May/June 2000


Part One of a three
part story excerpted
from an upcoming
new book by Sue
Goode about the
many blessings that
have come out of the
Columbine tragedy
 

Ontario, California Prepares for Gathering Expo

"’Why’ is a question that has become sickeningly familiar to us. It is a question that we have asked ourselves every time the unspeakably tragic news of school violence has reached our families, our towns, our televisions. We have asked ourselves why, we have asked the perpetrators why, we have asked God why. Why Moses Lake, why Paducah, why Jonesboro, why Littleton. Only yesterday, it seems, they were normal cities and towns many of us had never heard of…Why my child, why my neighbor's child, why my school?"

These are the questions to be found on the website for The Gathering, an upcoming concert and expo for the victims of school violence around the country being held in Ontario, California. Sponsored by the Ontario Police Department, the event will be held on Saturday, Aug. 05, 2000

The special event will feature an outdoor festival style concert to benefit survivors of school shootings from all over the USA consisting of Alternative, Punk, Christian Reggae, Hip Hop, Country and special appearances by celebrities and survivors. There will be an expo and job fair also.

"The purpose of our gathering is not to point fingers of blame or dwell on what might have been. It is to enjoy the new friendships that have been created, and to share in renewed hope," appear the words of board members Michael Cohen, Stephanie Curtis, Charlene Butolph, Byron Lee, and Faeylyn Wylder on the site. "It is to learn from the mistakes of the past and take positive steps so that we may be alert to the signs of impending trouble and act on those signs. It is to prepare ourselves to plant that ounce of prevention - because we know that for our grief there can be no cure."

For more information and online registration for the event, go to their website at: http://www.geocities.com/the_gathering_in_ca/.

Copyright © 2000 The Lullaby for Columbine Project.
All Rights Reserved.