PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — West Philadelphia’s Charles Foundation, a nonprofit working to end gun violence in Philly, is teaming up with the national organization March For Our Lives.
Yancy Harrell with the Charles Foundation said the alliance is right on time.
“It’s getting worse,” he said of gun violence in the city. “It’s important for us to come out here with March For Our Lives and get the community involved because law enforcement, politicians, no one is gonna come up here on a white horse and save us.”
March For Our Lives started as a student-led effort in the wake of the 2018 Parkland, Florida, school shooting, which killed 17 people. The movement has since grown nationwide, including the new Philly chapter in collaboration with the Charles Foundation.
“Youth from all over the United States, all different races and nationalities, descended onto our park at 52nd and Wyalusing,” said Harrell. The group cleaned up the park and facilitated a food drive.
Neighbors like Shirl and Jay welcome the assistance because they agreed that the situation is getting worse.
“Guns are a very big problem, especially in Philadelphia,” said Jay.
“They need people to help stop the gun violence. It’s just so bad,” added Shirl.
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Harrell and neighbors agree that in order to truly make a difference, the community needs to start standing up for itself.
“We have to save ourselves and patrol our own communities, and we need the community to start speaking up,” Harrell said. “I need everybody to be part of the solution, not part of the problem.
“Being part of the solution is when you see something out of the window, you see something happen — you see something, you say something.”