March For Our Lives In South Jersey Saturday

Families, students, and concerned citizens of the region will converge on Haddon Lake Park in Audubon on Saturday for a sister march of the “March For Our Lives” event taking place in Washington, D.C. The local march begins at 10 a.m., with marchers expected to gather beginning at 9 a.m.

Participants will march from Haddon Lake Park in Audubon to the McLaughlin-Norcross Dell in Haddon Heights. Haddon Lake Park is located between Lake Drive and Kings Highway.

“There will be a memorial portion in which we recognize those killed by gun violence,” said Diana Trasatti, a Gloucester Township school counselor from Collingswood who is acting as the spokesperson for the local event.

Trasatti is a member of Moms Demand Action, and joined the group in 2015 after the shooting at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado.

“I’ve been a part of the group through the Vegas shooting, the Pulse Night Club shooting and now the Parkland shooting, and I’ve never seen an influx like this,” Trasatti said.

On Monday night, the local chapter met and Trasatti said there were 150 people in attendance at the meeting. There are usually 20. She said it’s difficult to determine how many people will show up for the march, but recent events indicate there may be quite a few.

Following the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in which 17 people were killed on Valentine’s Day, students at high schools across the country have spoken out. Thousands nationally walked out during the National Walkout Day on March 14, one month after the shootings.

“People are just fed up with shooting after shooting,” Trasatti said. “And it’s not even counting the ones we don’t see, like when someone gets shot in Camden. But this happened at a high school, and it involved students who could talk about it, post about it and record it. That brought insiders into it.”

Trassati is responsible for about 500 students in her role in the Gloucester Township K-8 school district, she said. She said she would do anything for them, and she doesn’t want school shooting drills to become the new norm.

“I want to build a society where kids are as safe as they can be,” Trassati said. “ … I know so many educators who would do anything for their kids and it’s disconcerting to see lawmakers do nothing.”

One lawmaker who is doing something at the local level is Camden County Freeholder Louis Cappelli Jr. He will speak at Saturday’s march.

“Our students and families are standing up to the federal legislature and the National Rifle Association to say, ‘enough is enough.’ Now is the time to implement comprehensive common-sense gun reform in this country and to keep our children safe,” Cappelli said. “On Saturday we will join voices with Americans across the country to call for a much-needed change to the status quo.”

Trassati is happy to see the students taking a stand and speaking out, and she’s happy they’ll be able to vote soon.

The non-partisan march is calling for a gun control bill targeted at ending school shootings. Marches are planned for most major cities, similar to how the Women's March was set up, and is spearheaded by five Florida students survived the shooting.

Photo: Parkland, Florida - Feb. 17: Juliana Cruz joins with others as they protest against guns on February 17, 2018 in Parkland, Florida. Earlier this week former student Nikolas Cruz opened fire with a AR-15 rifle at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School killing 17 people. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)