For Immediate Release:
July 31, 2023
Contact: Christian Kendzierski
Tel. 410-547-5378
christian.kendzierski@archbalt.org
Community Peacebuilding and Resource Fair featuring a gun buyback planned for Edmondson Village Shopping Center
Archdiocese of Baltimore joins a dozen community-based partners for Aug. 5 event
Baltimore, MD – With more than $50,000 raised from Catholic parishes and individual donors, the Archdiocese of Baltimore is organizing a gun buyback and resource fair featuring a dozen community-based partners on Saturday, Aug. 5 at Edmondson Village Shopping Center beginning at 10 a.m.
The interfaith event – a grassroots effort kicked off by the Rev. Mike Murphy, a Southwest Baltimore native and pastor of St. Joseph Monastery Parish in Irvington – builds a coalition for peace in West Baltimore and channels hope to the community in the midst of a violent summer.
Partner groups will offer resources on programs that provide job training, trauma counseling, youth advocacy, gun safety education, health and wellness outreach and anti-poverty services. Returning citizens will prepare and give away fresh food meals through the Franciscan Center. Interfaith leaders will join community members in prayer and provide pastoral support and spiritual guidance upon request. The event also includes a public program with elected officials and dignitaries beginning at noon and music throughout the day.
In a separate part of the shopping center, the Baltimore Police Department will provide a safe and legal way for community members to dispose of guns. Each handgun, rifle and shotgun is worth $200 in cash; semi-automatic and fully-automatic assault weapons turned over will garner $300. Weapons turned in will be destroyed. Excess funds from the gun buyback will go to the Archdiocese’s Grief Ministry in support of the families of homicide victims.
“Gun buybacks give people a legal way to dispose of unwanted firearms, and research shows safety is a top motivation for participants,” said Father Murphy. “The guns recovered could be the same ones used in a suicide or an impulsive act of rage, or they could be stolen in a home invasion and discharged in a subsequent crime. Could our event be what sparks a violent repeat offender to change his life and turn his piece over for a couple of hundred dollars? I’ve certainly witnessed the Holy Spirit do bigger things.
“Our event is about taking an action that is within our control as a community to confront the relentless pace of murder – as just one part of the broader solution.”
“We join the Church in Chicago, New York and other cities that have recently partnered with law enforcement on successful gun buyback events,” said Baltimore’s Archbishop William E. Lori. “Together, we send a powerful message of hope to communities plagued by gun violence, create the potential to save lives, and ultimately, channel God’s love toward peace and healing.”
Among the event partners is Catholic Charities, which works every day in communities throughout Baltimore to serve and empower residents.
“Catholic Charities is rooted in neighborhoods throughout Baltimore, committed to building healthier and more vibrant communities where every person has the opportunity to achieve their greatest potential,” said Bill McCarthy, executive director. “Gun violence can only be addressed if we do so together, which is why we are joining in this coalition for peace, centered on this gun buyback and community resource event.”
Resource fair partners include:
- Franciscan Center (giving away 500 meals)
- Roberta’s House
- Catholic Charities
- My Brother’s Keeper
- West Baltimore Renaissance Foundation
- Youth Advocate Programs
- Moms Demand Action
- St. Vincent de Paul
- Ascension St. Agnes
- LifeBridge Health’s Center for Hope
- Roca
- Daughters of Charity
- Baltimore City’s homicide survivor advocates
- Alterwood Health
- Project PLASE
- BUILD’s Turnaround Tuesday
- Black Lives Matter Interfaith Coalition
- The Pratt’s Edmondson Village branch
- Maryland Volunteer Lawyers Service
- Maryland Legal Aid.
- Prayer booth with interfaith leaders offering pastoral care and spiritual guidance, as well as a “meet your neighbor” table with community leaders engaging resource partners and members of the public in conversation.
For more information on ways you can help support this effort, please visit www.archbalt.org or reach out to Yvonne Wenger at 410-547-3158, or Yvonne.wenger@archbalt.org.