Runners, riders, and walkers battled the elements Saturday morning to remember the victims of the Sandy Hook tragedy and put an end to gun violence.
“I wanted to do it for the babies of Sandy Hook. Even though it’s snowing out, it was well worth it, so rewarding, and I wouldn’t have passed it up for anything,” Kirsten Martin, of Brookfield, said.
About 1,500 people pounded the pavement in support of various Sandy Hook charities. Others, like a team of two dozen firefighters, walked the course in full gear to honor first responders.
“Every time I hear Sandy Hook, I say let’s go do something. This is our way of supporting them,” explained firefighter Jeff Kozo of Washington.
They were led by Team 26, a cycling group that uses pedal power to push for new gun laws. The group will ride 400 miles over the next four days, stopping for rallies in five states.
“It’s really energizing. It gives me a lot of hope that we’re moving in the right direction," team founder Monte Franke said, adding that as they "go to these communities and we lock arms and join together, Congress has to see that all of America’s coming together."
Before pedaling off to the nation’s capital, the group held a rally in Newtown.
“The fact is, we now have a voice we didn’t seek, and didn’t want,” Newtown First Selectwoman Patricia Llodra told the crowd of pastors, politicians, and parents.
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“We’re creating communities. We’re connecting and we’re showing that we’re engaged and we’re willing to come together to do bring about change,” Dr. Jeremy Richman, who lost his daughter Avielle in the tragedy.
U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut) said Newtown is inspiring the nation.
“By the men and women who light a candle rather than curse at the darkness, who keep moving forward on bicycles or on foot making sure that America remembers that we have a cause that we cannot abandon,” he said.
Whether on two wheels or two feet, Saturday’s participants were moving forward with a message for change.
