As people in Southwest Michigan learned details on Sunday of a Saturday night shooting spree in Kalamazoo, philanthropic organizations were searching for a way to help.
Battle Creek Community Foundation CEO Brenda Hunt, Kalamazoo Community Foundation CEO Carrie Pickett-Erway and the CEO of the United Way of the Battle Creek and Kalamazoo Region Mike Larson worked on the Help Now Fund.
Carrie Pickett-Erway and Mike Larson joined WMUK’s Gordon Evans to discuss the development of the fund and plans for the donations.
Pickett-Erway says people making donations can designate their contribution to help families of the shooting victims or for other purposes. Larson says they plan to be “good stewards” of the money. He says they will be transparent in how the donations are spent.
The short-term needs may also include counseling and other services for people dealing with traumatic events.
Pickett-Erway says the longer term goal is to address the broader problem of violence. She says that includes an effort to create a “safer community.”
Larson says the problem of violence is bigger than one incident. He says the community needs to have a larger conversation about violence as a whole.
