Rallying for change: Locals gather to protest gun violence, pay tribute to recent victims at Wear Orange event

(Editor’s Note: This story was republished in part at Better.net in alignment with a partnership between the two nonprofits: The Record Community News and Make it Better Media Group.)

Community members from around the North Shore came out in full force at Wear Orange, an anti-gun-violence 5K and event Sunday, June 5, in Indian Hill Park in Winnetka.

The family friendly event was organized by Moms Demand Action NorthShore along with Students Demand Action factions from New Trier High School and Northwestern University.

The event started with a 5K walk or run along Green Bay Trail, for which participants were given small backpacks containing an orange ribbon and a piece of paper with the name of a recent victim of gun violence, either from the tragedy at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, or from a shooting in Chicagoland.

“(The event) is really a call to end gun violence,” said Erinn Martin, a co-lead for Moms Demand Action NorthShore. “It is a chance for the survivors of and people who have been taken by gun violence to be remembered.”

Wear Orange is an annual and nationwide initiative formed in 2015 to honor slain Chicago teenager Hadiya Pendleton, who was shot in the back in 2015 while standing in a public park. Orange is a nod to the color hunters wear to avoid being shot.

For more photos from the event, please click here.