United Methodist Women Remembers Parkland School Shooting Victims and Communities Traumatized by Gun Violence

For Immediate Release

This Statement Can Be Attributed to Harriett Jane Olson, President and CEO, United Methodist Women

NEW YORK – United Methodist Women today offered reflections for the students killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Feb. 14, 2018. The organization’s president and CEO, Harriett Jane Olson, issued the following statement in support of the Parkland students and families and the children and young people who neither feel safe at school nor in their communities:

“Schools, like places of worship, should be spaces where students are safe and free from harm. It is distressing when safe havens become epicenters of violence. Since the passage of time does not automatically heal the trauma of victims, survivors or their families, we are pausing to remember those who have been impacted by school shootings and community-based gun violence.

“As we plan the path from here, we urge policymakers to look to evidenced-based solutions to make our schools and communities safer.

“Now more than ever, we should be investing in strategies that support stronger relationships between adults and children in schools, counselors rather than cops, expanded access to mental health services, conflict resolution services and restorative justice.

“As we pray for students and the victims’ families on this anniversary, we also send prayers to the young people living in communities that are battered by gun violence each day.

“We urge our national leaders to garner the courage to honor the lives senselessly lost to U.S. gun violence in the Parkland shooting and beyond, by adopting commonsense gun reforms, as called for by youth organizing groups and Marjory Stoneman Douglass High School students.”

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Contact: Yvette Moore, Director of Public Relations and Marketing, ymoore@uwfaith.org