INDIANAPOLIS — There isn’t a day that goes by that Cathy Mann isn’t wearing or holding onto a necklace filled with her son’s ashes.
“Never in a million years would I have thought I have bury my child,” Mann said.
Her son, Trevon Mann was killed in January 2018. He was found in the area of East 42nd Street and North Post Road.
“Normally I do a balloon release every year for Trevon’s birthday, but we have had so many more mothers who have lost children to gun violence," Mann said. "Myself alone, I’ve lost several family members in the last two months or so."
As of Wedensday, the city of Indianapolis has had at least 211 homicides so far this year.
“How do we stop the violence? Where do we begin? Does it start at home? Does it start at school? Does it start in our communities?” Mann said.
As an effort to pay tribute to all the lives lost, Mann is planning a gospel jubilee Saturday at Hovey Street Church of Christ.
“I think the message is to remind our children and these young adults that are involved that the pain is real and it doesn’t go away,” Denell Howard, Hovey Street Church of Christ Pastor, said.
“Maybe it will cause us to consider what we are putting families through before we pull those triggers,” Howard said.
At 12:45 p.m. Saturday outside of the church, families who have lost their loved ones to gun violence are encouraged to bring a picture and a balloon to pay tribute to their life. At 1 p.m. around 50 people will be allowed inside for the program.
“The real message I want to spread is those people who are not with us still had lives they did exist they are leaving family members behind that are so hurt that are so lost who don’t understand,” Daisy Marrs, the founder of A Way Out Ministries Inc., said.
For Mann, she just hopes the program gives mothers who are grieving hope. She wants them to know they are not alone, there is community of women who are experiencing the same pain.
“We’re going to shed a few tears of course, but this time I just wanted to be a little bit more uplifting. With COVID and all the homicides and everything in the news in the media, it’s a day of reckoning and coming together to put a smile on a mother’s face just for an hour or so,” Mann said.
