ALTON - A candlelight vigil invites the community to come together against gun violence.
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At 8:15 p.m. on Sunday, July 13, 2025, community members can come out to the 800 block of Oakwood Estates for the second annual Gun Violence Awareness Event. Organized by Patricia Brown and Alton United, the event aims to start conversations about gun violence and offer healing to the community.
“What people can expect is for people in the community, all different races of people, coming together to love on each other, to interact with one another, to just love and heal each other and educate one another about gun violence,” Brown said. “That’s what we can expect on that night: compassion, encouragement, hope and unity. Unity is the number one thing we’re hoping for.”
June is Gun Violence Awareness Month, which is what encouraged Brown to organize the event last year. The event will include a candlelight vigil to honor those who have been lost to gun violence. The first 100 candles will be provided.
The second annual Gun Violence Awareness Event has taken on even more significance following the recent shooting death of 17-year-old Shabyra Hudson.
“That’s heart-wrenching. It shows that education is needed pertaining to guns and our youth,” Brown said.
Brown added that the event isn’t about advocating for solutions, but instead, it’s focused on “love and healing.” She encourages people to come together to support one another.
She expressed her appreciation for organizations like Paper Planes Ministries and Churches on the Streets, which work with local kids. She added that other resources are needed to support families, and the Gun Violence Awareness Event encourages people to “love” and support one another.
“When is it going to stop? The more we educate, that’s when it’s going to stop. The more we educate and the more we unify ourselves together and give people resources,” she said. “The parents also need love and support. Whether they’re doing what you think they should be doing as a parent or not, these are still people that we’re supposed to love into becoming better. You can’t yell at a person and they become better. You love them into better. Period. So that’s the intent.”
Brown urges the community to come out on July 13 to show their support and begin conversations about gun violence. She wants to promote healing and unity through the second annual Gun Violence Awareness Event by bringing the community together.
“It’s not just a projects issue. It is a community issue,” she added. “Not just those who are underprivileged and those who are poor and those who have this and don’t have that, those in the projects, those who are not in the projects, or whatever it is. It’s for everybody, anybody that wants to come, anybody that has been affected by gun violence. Love and hug somebody. Introduce yourself. Regardless, we all still need each other and some type of way we need to break that barrier of separation. We need to do that…More resources, more love, more community, more neighboring.”
