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After Sunday worship concluded at First Unitarian Church in Wilmington, Delaware, members of the congregation picked up their signs—some with victims' names and some calling for gun control—and gathered near a busy highway to witness seventeen minutes of silence in memory of those who died during the Parkland, Florida, school shooting. The names of each of the victims was also read aloud during the service. ( Delaware 105.9 FM- 3.14.18)
In an interview, Lali Mares and Luna Baez, students at Kunsmiller Creative Arts Academy in Denver, Colorado, explain why they joined the nationwide National Student Walkout protest. Baez said she joined the event to show her support for the Parkland victims and because she knows the value of getting media coverage for issues she cares about. Her mom is Jeannette Vizguerra, a founder of the Denver Sanctuary Coalition who, until recently, was living in sanctuary at First Unitarian Church in Denver. She is now out thanks to a private bill that protects her. ( Democracy Now!- 3.15.18)
In Saratoga Springs, New York, the city council recently voted unanimously to ban sales of guns and ammunition at the Saratoga Springs City Center. The Rev. Joe Cleveland, of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Saratoga Springs, thanked city council members for their vote and said, “We don't want to celebrate trading instruments of death and terror. We don't want to bring those instruments into the center of who we are.” ( Daily Gazette- 3.16.18)
More coverage:
“17 moments: Parkland shooting victims honored in Fort Myers” ( News-Press- 3.11.18)
Father with grave medical condition deported
David Chavez-Macias, a father of four who has lived with his family in the United States for the past thirty years, was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement last week and will be deported to Mexico. Chavez-Macias has a serious heart condition known as Marfan syndrome, and his doctors in Reno, Nevada, where he as been living in sanctuary at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in Northern Nevada, said that sending him to a country where he will not have access to necessary medical care is “a death sentence.” ( Reno Gazette Journal- 3.15.18)