TOLEDO, Ohio — Toledoans gathered at St. George Antiochian Orthodox Cathedral in west Toledo on Wednesday for a service and discussion about children becoming the latest victims of gun violence, and how to put a stop to it.
"People need to share in the hurt that they have," Toledo resident Leslie Robinson said. "No one should just be there by themselves trying to go through this, because it's a painful situation."
Gun violence against children and teenagers has dominated community conversations for months, with the city of Toledo holding a series of "Youth be Heard" forums to gather input and concerns from local youths. More than 70 homicides have been committed in Toledo in the last 13 months, and nearly one-third of them were teens or younger.
"It's just unacceptable," Epworth United Methodist pastor Stephen Swisher said.
Family and friends of people affected by gun violence, as well as victims themselves, shared stories of pain and discussed ways to stop it. Robinson and his wife Wendy lost their 20-year-old son Donnie in 2005. They say the gun violence problem has only gotten worse in the last 18 years.
"Now it's almost every other day some young life is being taken for senseless reasons," Wendy said.
Wendy also noted the long absence of a local chapter of Parents of Murdered Children, a support network created to help parents grieving the loss of children.
Aviance Hill lost her son Isaac Carpenter in the last year. Since then, Hill has worked to bring a chapter of the Parents of Murdered Children to northwest Ohio. The group will hold its first meeting on Feb. 11 at 1 p.m. at the Collingwood Arts Center.
"I can't heal unless I'm healing or helping somebody else," Hill said. "So why not bring some hope to this very city that I live in, that I love."
Swisher is a co-founder of the Coalition for Peaceful Toledo Neighborhoods. The organization wants to provide resources to community members and introduce more community policing.
"More awareness of neighborhood watches," Swisher said. Reinstating the neighborhood watch, which is a huge help in our community but has not been available for the last ten years."
The coalition will hold its next meeting on Feb. 2 at 5:30 p.m. at Epworth UMC.