"AND THEY SHALL FORGE THEIR SWORDS INTO PLOWSHARES." Isaiah 2:4
St. Paul’s Social Justice Ministry is devoted to getting the guns out of homes because they pose such serious risks to children and other members of our community.
GUNS TO GARDENS 2024
GUNS TO GARDENS – submitted by Paula Hawthorn
July 20 was our 4th Oakland Guns to Gardens event, and it resulted in getting 50 guns including 21 hand guns, and an AK-47 style semi-automatic rifle off the streets!
Of the people who filled out our survey, 14 were 55 and over and 5 were younger. A large majority of people said they had inherited the guns. Only 3 people said they bought the guns. People came from all over the Bay Area, having heard about Guns to Gardens mostly from social media & stories on TV.
We had over 20 volunteers, which was wonderful (some are in the picture on the left) and great support from OPD (as you can see in the picture on the right):
This makes a total of over 300 guns that have been gotten off the streets and forged into garden tools since we began this project. The media coverage has begun to increase: we had 6 people from different organizations doing interviews during or after the event, which we hope will lead to more guns being turned in at our next one, Probably June 2025.
If you want to help with that (publicity, volunteer, anything) just let us know.
July 20 was our 4th Oakland Guns to Gardens event, and it resulted in getting 50 guns including 21 hand guns, and an AK-47 style semi-automatic rifle off the streets!
Of the people who filled out our survey, 14 were 55 and over and 5 were younger. A large majority of people said they had inherited the guns. Only 3 people said they bought the guns. People came from all over the Bay Area, having heard about Guns to Gardens mostly from social media & stories on TV.
We had over 20 volunteers, which was wonderful (some are in the picture on the left) and great support from OPD (as you can see in the picture on the right):
This makes a total of over 300 guns that have been gotten off the streets and forged into garden tools since we began this project. The media coverage has begun to increase: we had 6 people from different organizations doing interviews during or after the event, which we hope will lead to more guns being turned in at our next one, Probably June 2025.
If you want to help with that (publicity, volunteer, anything) just let us know.
These are the guns in the OPD truck.
Volunteers hard at work!
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An officer inspecting a long gun.
Thank you to everyone!
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Meet our Blacksmith, John Rogers
 John, as an altar boy at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in North Dakota.
To John, forging these guns into garden tools is spiritual, literally transforming a weapon that hurts people into a tool for raising food and flowers.
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John Rogers today, with the tools that he forged.
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HOW YOU CAN HELP
- DONATE HERE to help underwrite the costs of the event. Scroll down to choose "Give to Guns to Gardens."
- Volunteer to help at the next event event. Contact Paula Hawthorn [email protected]
- Spread the word: Encourage donations, volunteers, and gun drop off at our next event, June 2024.
- Volunteer to help at the next event event. Contact Paula Hawthorn [email protected]
- Spread the word: Encourage donations, volunteers, and gun drop off at our next event, June 2024.