Youth gun violence victims to be honored with memorial of 7K pairs of shoes on Capitol lawn

WASHINGTON - Activist organization Avaaz says it is working on creating a monument and memorial on the Capitol lawn that will represent the number of children lost to gun violence since the 2012 Sandy Hook mass shooting in Newtown, Connecticut.

Avaaz says staff and volunteers will construct the "massive monument to our kids" by laying 7,000 pairs of children's shoes on the Capitol lawn.

Newsweek reported in 2017, a study that was published in the journal "Pediatrics" found that an average of 1,297 children die annually from gun-related injuries, making guns the third-leading cause of death for children in America (behind illnesses and unintentional injuries like drownings or car crashes).

The study showed an average of 5,790 children in the United States receive emergency room treatment for gun-related injuries each year, with about 21 percent of those injuries being accidental.

In order to complete their project, the Avaaz is collecting donations of shoes for the monument. They say all the shoes collected should be donated by Sunday, March 11.

There are several drop-off locations for shoe collections. All drop-off locations will have a visible bin or box labeled "Avaaz."

Anyone who isn't able to drop them off can mail them to:

Attn: AVAAZ
3133 Pennsy Drive
Landover, MD 20785

Avaaz says all shoes collected will be donated to DC-area homeless shelters and charities after the memorial.