Parkland Activists Working Hard Locally, Around The Nation
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PARKLAND (CBSMiami) – Four months after the Valentine's Day massacre, the parents of two of the school shooting victims are holding a weekend fundraiser.
This coming as student activists begin the next phase in their nationwide March For Our Lives movement.
Locally, dozens of people gathered at The Waterway Shoppes at Heron Bay to show support for the families of the Parkland school shooting victims.
"We're here today to show unity," said Fred Guttenberg, who lost his daughter Jaime in the shooting. "We're here to show we support each other and we're here today to show we're not gonna stop. We're going forward through election day and beyond."
The event benefits Guttenberg's charity 'Orange Ribbons For Jaime" and Manuel Oliver's 'Change The Ref' foundation.
Oliver's son Joaquin was killed in the shooting.
"We started our foundations after our kids were killed on February 14th," Guttenberg said. "The two of our families are working to raise awareness on gun safety and the importance of voting to do something about gun safety in this country."
"Gun violence, it never hit Parkland before," Oliver added. "Nobody was expecting that. We were a very secure community…and guess what, [now] we're not."
Saturday night in Chicago, Jennifer Hudson and Chance The Rapper joined student activists as they kicked off a nationwide summer bus tour called 'Road To Change.'
Shooting survivor and former congresswoman Gabby Giffords spoke at the event.
"We must do something," she said. "We must stop gun violence."
"I just arrived from Chicago," Oliver said. "You have no idea of the impact that we are making all around the nation. It's not only in Parkland that they're listening. All communities are listening to this."
The Parkland non-profit group Unite Together also took part in the event.
