Livingston—NCJW/Essex is sponsoring a Lunch and Learn program entitled, “#ENOUGH: A Conversation About Gun Violence,” featuring Mark Barden, Managing Director of Sandy Hook Promise and Kim Russell, Regional Organizing Manager for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. The program will take place on Thursday, October 20, from noon to 2 p.m.

“As mass shootings, lock-down drills and alarming social media threats become more commonplace, even close to home here in Essex County, we must look for ways to keep our families and neighborhoods safe,” explains Shari Harrison, President, NCJW/Essex. “We are thrilled to welcome Mark Barden and Kim Russell to educate and inspire us to look at gun-violence prevention from their personal experience as well as from a community perspective.”

Barden and Russell are leading advocates of community and legislative efforts to keep guns out of the hands of those who pose a danger to themselves, their families and others. Both have experienced first-hand the horror and devastation that goes hand-in-hand with gun violence.  Sandy Hook Promise is an organization started by parents whose children were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT, whose purpose is to educate and empower parents, schools and community organizations on ways to prevent gun violence before it happens. Similarly, the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence aims to create a safer America by cutting gun deaths in half by the year 2025.

Gun-violence prevention has become one of the most challenging issues of our time. While national attention has focused on the failure of Congress to enact sensible gun safety legislation, this Lunch and Learn will highlight research-based methods to help identify and intervene in situations involving at-risk youth. Responsible gun ownership as a means of child-access and suicide prevention will also be addressed.

The Lunch and Learn is being co-sponsored by Temple Sharey Tefilo-Israel in South Orange and the Community Relations Committee of Jewish Federation of MetroWest NJ. The event will be held at Temple Sharey Tefilo-Israel, 432 Scotland Road, South Orange. Pre-registration is required. NCJW/Essex members: $20; nonmembers: $25; includes a buffet lunch. To register, please call 973-740-0588 or visit www.ncjwessex.org.