Mt. Kisco Methodist Congregation Remembers Victims of School Massacre
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Another weekend and more vigils and prayer gatherings took place around the area.
With millions of people across the region and the nation still in disbelief at the latest mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, the United Methodist Church in Mount Kisco was one of the congregations that gathered Sunday evening on its lawn to mourn last Tuesday’s loss of 19 elementary school children and two teachers at Robb Elementary School.
Lay leadership and members of the United Methodist congregation partnered with four other churches in and around Mount Kisco to bring people together when so many need the support of community.
“We felt it was such a senseless murder, it was senseless especially the more you listen to the reports about it, there was so many things that could have been done that weren’t done, and unfortunately, because of that we have to be faced with this,” said United Methodist Church parishioner Marianne Baldwin, who helped organize the candlelight vigil with lay leader Bobbie McCann.
“It was very important to the congregation to do this,” Baldwin added.
The half-hour program featured prayer, remarks from participating clergy and the reading of the names of the victims, which was followed by the tolling of the church bell 21 times.
McCann said that last week the church received small solar lights that the congregation arranged in the shape of a heart in the middle of its lawn on East Main Street. Each light is accompanied by a tag with the name of one of the slain students or teachers, and as their name was read, a single-stem rose was placed next to the light.
Pastor Elaine Pope-Joffrion said words couldn’t adequately describe the grief that so many feel about the needless loss of so many young children.
“Let us pray for a broken world who seems to not want to cooperate and the commandments that our Lord and savior has asked us to obey, and that is to love one another as I have loved you,” Pope-Joffrion said.
Parishioner Don McCann, who offered several brief opening remarks, said it was important to remember the lives lost even if they were far away.
“There is nothing we can say that will fill the sudden hole that was torn in the hearts of those who lost loved ones this past Tuesday, but we have gathered together this evening on the lawn of this church to memorialize those 19 children and two heroic teachers who were taken from their loved ones so suddenly,” McCann said.
Mount Kisco Mayor Gina Picinich, who attended the vigil, said it is hard to believe that with so many mass shootings over the past decade there hasn’t been any will on the part of the nation to address the simultaneous issues of easy access to guns and mental health.
“So what’s happened since then?” Picinich asked. “We’ve taught children to hide, we put up bulletproof glass in our schools, but it didn’t fix anything, it didn’t change anything, it didn’t stop anything.”
The 19 child victims of the May 24 school shooting are Makenna Lee Elrod,10; Layla Salazar, 11; Maranda Mathis, 11; Nevaeh Bravo, 10; Jose Manuel Flores Jr., 10; Xavier Lopez, 10; Tess Marie Mata, 10; Rojelio Torres, 10; Eliahna “Ellie Amyah Garcia, 9; Eliahna A. Torres, 10; Annabell Guadalupe Rodriguez, 10; Jackie Cazares, 9; Uziyah Garcia; Jayce Carmelo Luevanos, 10; Maite Yuleanna Rodriguez, 10; Jailah Nicole Silguero, 10; Amerie Jo Garza, 10; Alexandria “Lexi” Aniyah Rubio, 10; and Alithia Ramirez, 10.
The two teachers who were killed were Iram Garcia, 48, and Eva Mireles, 44.
Martin has more than 30 years experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties, including a frequent focus on zoning and planning issues. He has been editor-in-chief of The Examiner since its inception in 2007. Read more from Martin’s editor-author bio here. Read Martin’s archived work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/martin-wilbur2007/
