Bridgewater-Raritan Parents To March Sunday For Their Kids Lives

BRIDGEWATER, NJ — Bridgewater-Raritan parents and grandparents will be marching on Sunday to create a safer school environment for their children in the district.

The “March For Our Lives,” which is in support of Never Again Movement, is being hosting by township parents who created a group “Not In Our Town” following the Parkland, Florida school shooting.

The march will be held Sunday at 9 a.m. at the Bridgewater-Raritan High School Basilone Field parking lot, 700 Garretson Road, in Bridgewater.

“We are doing this march with a different purpose,” said Neha Limaye, co-chair of the Student Empowerment Committee in the Not In Our Town group. “It’s not just limited to gun violence, it’s about mental health, student support and security.”

The Limaye and co-chair Komal Sheth are working with the police department to come up with a route. All of the community is invited to join the march and bring signs or whatever they like. Limaye asks participants to leave backpacks and big bags at home for security reasons.

The “Not In Our Town” group was started by Niki Dawson and her neighbor Adrienne Sorensen two days after the shooting. Dawson and Sorenson both have children in the school system.

“We were overwhelmed by it all and didn’t know what to do or how to act,” Dawson said. “When I went back to work I thought about the helplessness of it all. I realized we have to act or we will be the ones facing the same tragedy.”

Within two days of launching the group on Facebook, Dawson had more than 600 members. Now the group has close to 1,000 and has seven subcommittees.

Dawson and Sorenson addressed the superintendent and Board of Education at the recent board meeting and is looking to work with the district.

“Our major focus right now is to work with the school administration to help with social isolation in kids. The next potential school shooter is that kid sitting alone at lunch,” Dawson said. “We need to empower kids to reach out to those kids and try to befriend them. And see if can get resources to them and make sure they don’t grow up to be an angry, frustrated teen who might have access to a gun.”

To learn more about the parents march check of out Facebook event page here. To join or for more information on the “Not In Our Town” group click here.

(Image via Neha Limaye)

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