This story was amended to update information provided by NAA earlier today.

Approximately 25 to 30 people, mainly members of Newtown Action Alliance (NAA) and The Newtown Foundation (TNF), gathered on the front steps of Edmond Town Hall Monday evening, June 22, to sign a large, bannerlike sympathy card that will be sent to Emmanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C., said NAA chairman Po Murray.

Nine people were murdered in the historic Charleston church, Wednesday, June 17, while attending Bible study, when a 21-year-old man opened fire on the men and women with whom he had sat with for nearly an hour.

The card signing was a last-minute decision by the NAA/TNF Steering Committee during a regularly scheduled meeting, said Ms Murray.

The card will be available until Sunday, June 28, in the office of Newtown Congregational Church, 14 West Street, for signing by others, she said. A banner card will also be available for residents to sign prior to the  #RisingForCharleston vigil scheduled at Newtown United Methodist Church, 92 Church Hill Road, Sunday evening, at 7 . The vigil has been organized by Everytown for Gun Safety and Moms Demand Action, according to Sandy Hook Elementary School teacher, Abbey Clements.

“We will join together to pray, sing, and send our love and support to Emanuel AME Church, the victims, the survivors, and the entire Charleston community,” said Ms Murray.

The card will sent to Emmanuel AME in Charleston, after the vigil.

Newtown Action Alliance is an action-based grassroots organization founded by Newtown residents in the weeks after the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School, December 14, 2012. The organization is “dedicated to reversing the escalating gun violence epidemic in this nation through the introduction of smarter, safer gun laws and broader cultural change,” according to its website (www.newtownaction.org).

The Newtown Foundation is a Newtown-based, all volunteer, 501(c)(3) organization that has been working “since the Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy to help our community heal and be remembered as the place where positive cultural changes began.”