ABOVE PHOTO: St. Luke’s Saturday community lunch crew. (Photo credit: Ron Riggle)
By Constance Garcia-Barrio
According to the Office of the Controller, Philadelphia has experienced 183 fatal shootings as of June 27, 2023. As a result, the city’s cup of grief runneth over.
Those deaths have brought members of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Germantown out of the sanctuary and into the fray. The church has partnered with the Father’s Day Rally Committee and Philadelphia City Council to host a gun buyback on Saturday, July 29 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on its campus located at 5421 Germantown Avenue.
Each person who brings in a working handgun or semi-automatic firearm will receive a $200 Visa gift card, no questions asked. Organizers aim to get 100 guns off the streets at this event.
“This is our first gun buyback,” said the Rev. Davis J. Morris, rector of St. Luke’s. “It came out of the Wednesday Bible study group. Every day we hear of the rising tide of gun violence, and it was decided that our thoughts and prayers should result in action. We began to talk about what we might do. The buyback is an extension of what we’re already doing through our food pantry and clothing cupboard.”
St. Luke’s will draw on the expertise of Bilal Qayyum, president of the Father’s Day Rally Committee, a group that promotes good relationships between fathers and their children and works against violence.
“In 2022, we collected 600 guns,” Qayyum said. “St. Luke’s will be our third buyback this year. Most of the guns we get are from households, from mothers and grandmothers who don’t want a gun in the house where they’re raising children or grandchildren. A lot of guns are stolen out of houses and cars. Getting a gun out of the house is beneficial. It’s one less gun that children could find and fire accidentally, one less gun that could turn up on the street,” Qayyum said. “We’re partnering with St. Joe’s Prep, St. Joe’s University, Girard College, and the Gesu School.”
This year’s gun murders near St. Luke’s include a triple killing last week in East Germantown and one on SEPTA’s Route 23, but raw numbers don’t convey the pain behind them.
“My son, TaJuan Shields, was killed 10 years ago at age 24,” said Eric Daniels, a client of Every Murder Is Real (EMIR), a Germantown nonprofit group that offers bereavement counseling and other services to people affected by gun violence. “From what I was told by the detectives, he was at a birthday party at his girlfriend’s house.”
Prior to the party, there was an argument between some young men, including Shields.
“During the party, a youth shot into the house, hitting [TaJuan] in the back left side of the head as he tried to get the children down on the floor,” Daniels said.
“In court, I said I forgave [the shooter],” Daniels said. “It’s hard to digest. It still haunts me. I had a letter to read out in court, but I couldn’t get the heart to do it. I still have nightmares about my son’s murder.”
Police caught the killer months after he’d fled when they staked out his mother’s house in Philadelphia, Daniels said.
It seems a long leap from such tragedies to the Wednesday Mass at noon at St. Luke’s, but congregants appeared primed for it one afternoon this past spring.
“We were talking after the Mass about a topic that had nothing to do with gun violence, yet the subject kept popping up, popping up,” said Father Greg Smith, St. Luke’s rector emeritus, who’d just celebrated the Mass. “I think the idea was Spirit-driven. Enthusiasm just kept building,” he said, noting that an eager project team soon formed.
At least one team member found herself deeply attuned to the pain of loss that April afternoon.
“My husband, Frank Griswold, a bishop of the Episcopal Church, died in March,” said Phoebe Griswold, who’s heading up the team’s fundraising. “I can identify with grieving families.”
After Griswold approached Qayyum about the buyback, he came to St. Luke’s to talk with the team.
Betty Berry-Holmes, another member of the buyback team, recalled the conversation that got the ball rolling.
“After Mass, we discuss the gospel readings and things happening in the community,” Berry-Homes said. “Gun violence came up, not just in Philadelphia, but mass shootings nationwide,” she said, perhaps thinking of this year’s shootings in Allen, Texas, Nashville and Michigan State University which threaten to set a modern record.
Clayton Johnson, part of the buyback team, has done wide-ranging outreach for the event.
“Clayton has contacted minsters, pastors, and churches in the immediate community,” said Berry-Holmes. “He has gone door-to-door with flyers, sent emails, and made phone calls to help ensure that the buyback achieves its goal.”
“Clayton’s terrific!” Griswold said. “He has held us all together.”
Word has spread.
“Recently, a neighborhood woman went out, and when she returned home, she learned that a 12-year-old boy living nearby had been shot,” said team member Carlotta Fareira “She wrote the church a letter about the buyback and enclosed a check for $200, the price of one gun.”
Some people have said that the event won’t halt gun violence, but Father Greg sees a bigger picture.
“The buyback won’t stop the gun crisis, but it can potentially save lives,” he said. “It’s also a way to say to the community, ‘We’re with you, and we’ll continue to be here.’ We’re thinking about next steps, how we can be there for community families,” noting that St. Luke’s is considering different approaches.
Qayyum also offered a take on buybacks.
“We want to make a community that’s safe,” he said. “If we get one gun, and that saves one person from being shot, we will have achieved our objective.”
To be a sponsor with the name of your church or organization on the flyer for this event, donate $1,000 to $5,000 by July 7. Donations of any amount are welcome. Donate $200 to buy back one gun. The Police Department will take custody of the weapons and dispose of them. The goal is 100 guns. For more information, visit: www.phlcouncil.com/gunbuyback/ or call: (215) 667-9870.
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