Mother's Day service remembers kids lost to gun violence

CHICAGO (WLS) -- A Mother's Day ceremony took on a different tone at a South Side church Sunday with the focus on remembering children lost to gun violence in the city.

One by one they planted flags bearing their child's name to symbolize their loss. It's the Mother's Day they all must endure after their children became victims of gun violence.

April Johnson's 22-year-old son Christopher was killed early last month.

"(Sunday) is the worst Mother's Day because my son will never be here to share it with me again," she said.

On a gloomy day, families gathered outside in the garden of St. Sabina Catholic Church on the city's South Side for a Mother's Day remembrance.

"The pain keeps growing, that's the hard thing, said Father Michael Pfleger. "Some people think it just goes away, but it doesn't."

There were prayers for peace while many clutched memories of their loved ones.

It's also where Ebonie Martin had the strength to comfort others. Her son, 17-year-old Urban Prep senior Deonte Hoard, was shot to death in March in his South Deering neighborhood. http://abc7.ws/1J3D2PJ

"I want you to know his death is not in vain," Martin said. "He has his wings and he is standing and flying with the angels above."

Those now bonded together by sorrow also include fathers.

"Your heart is always broken, even though you go through the struggles, the best thing to do is know who God is," said Kevin Green.

The remembrance was organized by purpose over pain co-founder Annette Nance-Holt, who wants parents of slain children to channel their grief into action like she did after her son Blair was murdered on a CTA bus in 2007.

"You still feel that pain years and years later," Nance-Holt said. (Sunday) is Blair's anniversary, eight years ago (Sunday) he was murdered."

Adjacent to the church's memorial wall near where a quilt hung representing the children lost to violence, the moms released balloons to honor the victims, hoping to move toward healing.

"It's bittersweet, but it's still good," said Brenda Mitchell.