We began in response to the wave of mass shootings back in 2019 that ravaged the communities in Pittsburgh, Charleston, Parkland, and New Zealand. We concluded the project after sending this first round of 5 shawls—until 2022 when the mass shootings ticked back up again.

And so we have restarted this project in which we ask members of community to knit squares that we make into prayer shawls that are then sent to communities where mass violence has happened. In 2023, we sent 15 prayer shawls to the following communities: Buffalo, Uvalde, Tulsa, Highland Park, St. Louis, Charlottesville, Colorado Springs, Chesapeake, Monterrey Park, San Mateo, East Lansing, Nashville, Louisville, Thailand, and Ukraine.

We will make as many as we can, given the need, until this is not a regular occurrence.

This is a symbolic gesture, by which we wrap our arms around traumatized communities. It is a reminder for them that in their darkest times strangers support and care for them. Though this is not a religious project, we believe that the movement of our hands - our actions - are prayers, the strength of which will be felt in recipient communities.