City of Columbia to highlight Gun Violence Awareness Month with Walk and Community Day
May 21, 2026
This Wear Orange Walk will highlight the beginning of National Gun Violence Awareness Month, which takes place in June annually. The event is scheduled for Saturday, June 6, 2026, is free and open to all ages. We will assemble at the Busby Street Community Center at 9:30am and start the Walk at 10:30am. We will walk a predetermined route and end at the Katheryn Bellfield Community Center. At the Bellfield Center, participants will hear from guest speakers, and enjoy food, live music, games, and resource providers.
Saturday, June 6, 2026 at 10:30 a.m.
The walk will begin at the Busby Street Community Center, located at 175 Busby Street and end at the Katheryn Bellfield Community Center, located at 2611 Grant Street.
More About Gun Violence Awareness Month
Gun Violence Awareness Month honor survivors of gun violence and advocates to end gun violence. Each June, various activities and events across the United States aims to raise awareness about the impact of gun violence, promote responsible gun ownership, and support policy change to prevent gun violence.
The Wear Orange Movement encourages individuals to wear orange in solidarity with survivors and those working in our communities to prevent gun violence. The color orange was chosen because it is the color hunters use to protect themselves. On January 21, 2013, Hadiya Pendleton marched in President Obama’s second inaugural parade. One week later, Hadiya was shot and killed on a playground in Chicago. Soon after this tragedy, Hadiya’s friends commemorated her life by wearing orange.
Wear Orange honors Hadiya and the nearly 130 people shot and killed every day in the United States, along with the hundreds more who are wounded and the countless others whose lives have been changed by gun violence. Wear Orange originated on June 2, 2015 — what would have been Hadiya Pendleton’s 18th birthday. Today, National Gun Violence Awareness Day takes place on the first Friday in June and marks the beginning of Wear Orange Weekend. Learn more about Wear Orange Day here: https://wearorange.org/
To get involved, you can wear orange at the Walk on June 6th, support advocacy efforts, or organize your own awareness events. Organizations like Everytown for Gun Safety and Moms Demand Action work tirelessly to address gun violence. Gun Violence Awareness Month is a time to demand life-saving change and demand action to end the epidemic of gun violence in the U.S.
