#WearOrange One Week From Today - June 2, 2017 - The 3rd National Gun Violence Awareness Day

Join me and wear orange on June 2, and

"pledge to honor the lives of Americans stolen by gun violence, help keep firearms out of dangerous hands, practice responsible gun ownership, and promise to do our utmost to end gun violence."

More on the event:

On January 21st, 2013, Hadiya Pendleton, a high school student from the south side of Chicago, marched in President Obama’s second inaugural parade. One week later, Hadiya was shot and killed on a playground back in Chicago. Soon after this tragedy, Hadiya’s childhood friends decided to commemorate her life by wearing orange. They chose the color because hunters wear orange in the woods to protect themselves and others. On June 2nd, 2015—what would have been Hadiya’s 18th birthday—a broad-based coalition asked people nationwide to join in what Hadiya’s friends started, honoring her life, the lives of the 93 Americans killed by gun violence plus the hundreds more who are injured every day, by wearing orange. In its inaugural year, 30,000 Americans chose to #WearOrange—including more than 100 nonprofits, corporate brands and cultural influencers. In 2016, Wear Orange grew eightfold: President Obama, Viacom, Univision, Kim Kardashian West, Steph Curry, Vogue, Kenneth Cole, the San Francisco Giants and more than 300 noteworthy individuals, brands and organizations answered the call, taking to social media to show their support. The #WearOrange message echoed globally, reaching millions in a single day.

And a special note to my fellow authors, illustrators, and professionals in the world of children's literature: Please join me in the Everytown Authors Council of the Everytown for Gun Safety organziation, the largest gun violence prevention non-profit in the country with more than three million supporters.

As author Jodi Picoult put it so powerfully,

"My job as a writer is to get people talking -- and this is a conversation we as a nation desperately need to have. Will you join me in this fight?"

Click here to find a Wear Orange event near you to help raise awareness in your community.

Thanks,
Lee