On June 2, 2015, Safe Tennessee Project is joining Gun Violence Prevention organizations across America and  #WearingOrange to honor victims and survivors of gun violence.

Why June 2? 

June 2 would have been Hadiya Pendleton’s 18th birthday. But instead of celebrating this milestone in their child’s life, her family is still grieving her loss. Just a week after performing at President Obama’s inauguration, this young honor student was shot in the back and killed less than a mile from the President’s former Chicago home.

Her classmates banded together after the shooting and asked everyone in the community to help them take a stand against the epidemic of gun violence.

Why orange?

Simple, said her classmates. They chose orange because hunters wear to signal to one another that they aren’t targets.

We are all targets.

More than 300 people were shot and 37 people were killed in shootings throughout Chicago during May of this year.

That’s an increase in shootings and gun deaths compared to May 2014, when 237 people were wounded and 36 were slain in shootings.

Chicago isn’t alone. In 17 states, including Tennessee, guns kill more people than cars.

In 2013 (the most recent CDC data available) 859 families lost their child under 16 to a firearm. More than 2 per day.

The Safe Tennessee Project will be honoring their memory, Hadiya’s and all those lost by wearing orange on June 2nd and by continuing to raise awareness and fight gun violence.

Please join us.

For more information on the extraordinary young lady Hadiya Pendleton, you can view her mother’s interview with MSNBC. In it, her mom, Cleopatra Pendleton says “I want there to be an awareness.” The #WearingOrange campaign hopes to achieve that goal.

For more reasons you should be #WearingOrange view these 15 Facts About Gun Violence