The idea for the Community Synagogue of Port Washington to send a bus full of members to participate in a gun-reform rally in Washington did not come from the adults.
“Actually, it mostly came from our teenagers,” said Rabbi Irwin Zeplowitz. “It was approved by our social action committee, but this whole thing is the idea of teenagers.”
Zeplowitz said about half of the 55 people taking the bus on March 24 will be teenagers. They will march in the streets of the nation’s capital with thousands of others from around the country.
Lindsay Ganci, the leader of youth engagement at the synagogue, said the idea to participate came from conversations she had with the teenagers in the days after the mass shooting at a high school in Parkland, Florida.
“I nurture all of who they are, not just spiritual, and it mattered to me to speak to the kids who needed me about the horrible occurrence in Parkland,” she said. “We discussed that there should be something that we do … and how the synagogue should respond.”
After it was decided to take action, Ganci said the teenagers began working to spread the word about the march and gun reform.
“With help from clergy, they [put] together the bus trip,” she said. “They’re designing T-shirts, posting on social media, they’re spreading the word with friends and family and joining what seems to be youth-led movement with this march.”
For those who do not already have a seat on the bus — which is currently full, according to the synagogue’s director of communications, Nancy Tejo — a march will be held the same day in Port Washington.
Members of the Community Synagogue are expected to attend, including Rabbi Sam Pollak, but the event is being organized by the United Methodist Church of Port Washington.
David Collins, the co-pastor at the church, said a family in the congregation knew one of the students killed in Parkland.
“One member, she kept in touch with Alex [Schachter’s] parents, and Alex had been listed as one of the missing,” Collins said. “She ended up getting a message from her daughter during our meeting, saying Alex was one of the ones killed. Another member said, ‘Could we do something here in Port about a march?’ and I said, ‘I think we can.'”
The march will begin at 6:30 p.m. on March 24 at the corner of Campus Drive and Port Washington Boulevard, in front of Carrie Weber Palmer Middle School. The march will make its way up the boulevard to the Methodist church, located just north of the Village Club of Sands Point.
Upon the marchers’ arrival at the church around 7:30 p.m. a vigil and call to action will be held. Students, local elected officials and local clergy will speak.
“We figured we’d give something local for those who can’t go [to Washington]. That’s how we ended up with an evening time,” Collins said.
These events are just two of hundreds that will occur across the country on March 24. U.S. Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-Glen Cove) recently announced that he would join his Republican colleague Rep. Peter King (R-Seaford) at 11 a.m. at Farmingdale State College.
“It’s our job as elected officials to shepherd this passion so meaningful action is taken at the congressional level to address gun violence prevention,” Suozzi said in a statement. “This is not about Republicans and Democrats. This is about doing what is right, and I’m proud to join Congressman King in this bipartisan effort.”
That event, like so many others, will have teenagers at the forefront of the effort to strengthen gun control.
“I really hope that the teens and millennials in this country can shake us out of our moral slumber,” Zeplowitz said. “I’m proud of them taking the lead.”
