The Newtown Foundation invites residents from Newtown and beyond to a breakfast fundraiser, Saturday, September 12, from 9 to 11 am, at Rock Ridge Country Club, 214 Sugar Street in Newtown. The event will raise funds for the 3rd Annual National Vigil for All Victims of Gun Violence.

In commemoration of the third anniversary of the Sandy Hook School shooting, The Newtown Foundation, the charitable arm of Newtown Action Alliance, will once again bring families of victims and survivors of gun violence from Newtown, and from around the nation, to a National Vigil for All Victims of Gun Violence. The vigil will be a service of mourning and loving remembrance at St Mark's Episcopal Church on Capitol Hill, in Washington, D.C., Wednesday, December 9, at 7 pm. 

“By December 14, 2015, the third anniversary of the tragic Newtown shooting, an estimated 90,000 more Americans will have died from gun violence. It’s a heartbreaking toll that affects all of our communities,” said Po Murray, chairperson of The Newtown Foundation and Newtown Action Alliance.

“When the news vehicles depart, the victims are often forgotten in the ensuing discussions of gun violence. We are working tirelessly to ensure that these victims and their families are not forgotten,” Ms Murray added.

Daniel W. Webster will be the keynote speaker at the breakfast fundraiser. Dr Webster is a professor of Health Policy and Management at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, where he serves as director of the Center for Gun Policy and Research, deputy director of Research for the Center for the Prevention of Youth Violence, and director of the PhD program in Health and Public Policy.

He has published numerous articles on the prevention of gun violence, firearm policy, youth gun acquisition and carrying, intimate partner violence, and the prevention of youth violence.

Dr Webster is currently leading studies evaluating the effects of various efforts to reduce violence, including state gun and alcohol policies, policing strategies focused on deterring gun violence, a community gun violence prevention initiative, and Maryland’s Lethality Assessment Program for reducing the recurrence of intimate partner violence. He teaches courses in violence prevention and research methods for health policy at Johns Hopkins, and serves on the executive committee of Johns Hopkins’ Interdepartmental Violence Research Pre- and Post-Doctoral Training Program.

Dr Webster will present .his study on the association between Connecticut’s permit-to-purchase handgun law and homicides

Tom Sullivan, whose son was killed in the Aurora movie theater in Colorado, will share his story and his efforts to reduce and end gun violence.

Other honored speakers include Newtown First Selectman Patricia Llodra, Congresswoman Elizabeth Esty, Senator Richard Blumenthal, and Senator Chris Murphy.

Tickets are $50 per person, or $300 to sponsor a table of eight.

To attend the September 12 fundraiser, RSVP by September 5 at The Newtown Foundation website. 

“We need help to continue to shed a light on the epidemic of gun violence in our nation. We are hoping more Americans will join us in our efforts to #HonorWithAction to #EndGunViolence,” said Ms Murray.

The Newtown Foundation is a Newtown-based, all volunteer organization formed after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, whose mission is “To provide comfort, education, scholarship and other support and resources to people and communities impacted by, and living or growing up among or in the aftermath, of violence in American society; and to help them lead the way toward positive cultural change over the long term.”