NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — It's difficult to put into words how last Spring's tragedy at The Covenant School impacted our community.
On March 27, 2023, six innocent people — three students and three school employees — were shot to death in the hallways of the school.
This upcoming March 27, Voices for a Safer Tennessee (Safer TN) invites people to create a human chain from Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital to the state capitol.
We know the events of that day almost a year ago were horrifying and difficult, and this anniversary is a somber one. We want to offer this as a way you can honor the victims of March 27, 2023.
"We are hoping to provide people with an opportunity to link arms, unite hearts, to really memorialize one of Nashville's darkest days," said Nicole Floyd Smith, a co-founder of Safer TN.
Safer TN is a coalition of 25,000 members. It was built on the conversations people were having in their communities after the mass shooting at Covenant.
"Firearm tragedies, whether it be homicide or suicide, are the number one killer of children in Tennessee, and to me that's not political. We owe it to our kids, our families and really to all of us to come together and try to change things," Smith said.
Back in April, roughly 10,000 mobilized to stand shoulder-to-shoulder for the first Linking Arms for Change event. It was just 3 weeks after the tragedy.
This year's route will be one mile longer for a total of four miles. It will take 13,000 people to make the human chain.
To mark one year since the mass shooting at The Covenant School @voices4saferTN is organizing another human chain. Here is the route map. It's one mile longer this year! pic.twitter.com/w9eJrpCJJ8
— Hannah McDonald (@HannahMcDonald) March 13, 2024
People need to be in place at 5 p.m. There will also be music and some speeches at that time in Musician's Corner at Centennial Park. The two musical artists are Ketch Secor of Old Crow Medicine Show and Blessing Offor, a Christian artist and former contestant on The Voice.
You can register to be a part of the event online.
Fostering Hope provides Christmas for kids in foster care. I'm delighted to see Fostering Hope expand this year to expand their reach to now include kids in Foster care in metro AND foster kids in East TN hard hit by Helene.
-Bree Smith
