Father’s Day dinner looks to combat rise in senseless gun violence
Ahead of Father’s Day, the Women’s Gun Violence Prevention Team is hosting a dinner to combat the rise in senseless gun violence.
Ahead of Father’s Day weekend, the Women’s Gun Violence Prevention Team is hosting a dinner on Friday evening designed to celebrate men in the community and invite them to join the fight against senseless gun violence.
As of June 15, there have been 19 homicides in Winston-Salem compared to only nine this time last year, and more than 100 reported shootings. In response to the rise in homicides, shootings, and other violent crimes, the Women’s Gun Violence Prevention Team, a coalition of local women geared toward bringing an end to senseless violence, is calling men to step up and get involved with organizations already doing the work to combat gun violence in the community. For the past month, the team of women have been coming together regularly to discuss ways to stop the violence and prevent the senseless loss of life.
Nakida McDaniel, one of the organizers for the event, said the event is designed to encourage men to get involved and volunteer with five different organizations led by other men in the community: 10,000 Fearless, Enough is Enough, HopeDealers, Rally Up Winston-Salem, and Beating Up Bad Habits.
“These are the organizations that I know do outreach on the ground in communities to stop the violence and we want to increase their capacity because they’re underfunded and they don’t have a lot of volunteers,” McDaniel said. “We need more people on the ground in the community, so we’re going to invite them to come out and support the work of these organizations.”
When asked about the recent rise in violent crime involving young people, McDaniel, who is a native of Winston-Salem, said she has never seen it this bad. McDaniel said she remembers gun violence being a problem in the late 80s and early 90s, but it didn’t reach this level.
Earlier this week, Winston-Salem made national news for being one of six cities across the country to have a mass shooting over the weekend. According to the Winston-Salem Police Department, on Friday, June 11, a shooting happened on Devonshire and Burgundy Streets. Upon arrival, officers found four people shot, three were transported to a local hospital, and the fourth was pronounced dead at the scene.
One of the victims in the shooting was 17 years old. Several other shootings in the city this year have involved juveniles under the age of 18.
McDaniel said while there does need to be a comprehensive plan to fight gun violence, there are other pieces to the puzzle and community involvement is a big piece. “You gotta have community involvement. It has to be for the community and it has to be community driven because we connect to our people better than anybody else,” she said.
Nykia Stinson, co-founder of Enough is Enough and another organizer for the event, said having a father figure plays an important part in a child’s development, especially for young boys. She said the plan after the dinner is to pair young boys in the community with male mentors.
“These young boys are trying to fill a void or try to find themselves. And you know there are a lot of mothers that are playing the role of father at the same time; but they really can’t play the role of the father because they can’t teach the man how to be a man,” Stinson continued. “Faith without works is dead. Men of this community should be held accountable for being that male figure in these kids’ lives.”
The Father’s Day dinner hosted by the Women’s Gun Violence Prevention Team will be held Friday, June 18, at the Enterprise Center, 1922 S. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive. Dinner is free of charge but men are asked to register ahead of the event. Registration will remain open through the day of the event. To register, visit https://tinyurl.com/3vjkzypk.
For more information, contact Nakida McDaniel at 336-830-4522 or Nykia Ingram at 336-473-4642.
