Alameda church pastor creates memorial to school shooting victims
ALAMEDA (KPIX) -- A memorial to the victims of the Uvalde, Texas school shooting at Twin Towers United Methodist Church honors each slain student and teacher with an empty folding chair outside the main entrance to the Alameda sanctuary.
"I received the news about what happened in Uvalde and I was numb and was frozen for several days," said Pastor Emily Lin, who has led the congregation at Twin Towers for four years. "I think there's also a sense of empowering for the kids and being able to put the chairs out to kind of do the work of folding paper and remember the names."
She decided to act after conversations she had with her children. Her son and daughter understand what happened to students just like them, close to their age.
"They were still growing up," said Imani Chen, 8, Lin's daughter.
"They were still growing up and they got killed and that's really sad," said Milo Chen, 8, Lin's son.
While she doesn't enjoy the idea of her children having to learn about gun violence, she found the experience to be a meaningful way to remember the victims.
"The looking-up of each of the names and so reading them through and noticing the age and really pausing around each person in addition to the teachers," Lin said. "There was both deep sadness and grief but also rage that they are part of a memorial for other children."
In just a couple of days, people have started to add to the memorial with flowers surrounding the steps that lead to the doors where members of the congregation enter the church.
Along with the flowers and a place to write notes on a pad and pencil, there are also cookies for the students and an apple on each of the two chairs representing teachers killed in the shooting.
"I saw people walking by, strangers to each other and stopping and gathering together and talking and starting to cry together," said Donna Wong, a member of the church. "That's what the focus should be on -- not politics -- but on what can be done. This is a problem that all of us share, all of us are affected by it."
The chairs are meant for children and normally used by the church. Each is a reminder of how small the victims were and that they only recently returned to school after two years of the pandemic.
"We are one nation, we should work together as a nation," said Cristina Quezon, a teacher who also attends Twin Towers church.
The conversations continued after the Sunday service with residents saying they hope the memorial encourages others to take similar action that will help the country prevent another shooting like the one at Robb Elementary School.
"We need the space, take the time, whatever you're feeling is good and right but, please, do something with that grief," Lin said.
"I know these are just words but we do want to extend our condolences to the families that are hurting."
