Victims of the tragic Tree of Life Synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh are being remembered around the nation and that includes right here in West Michigan.
Students from two Jewish campus organizations at Grand Valley State University are hosting a candlelight vigil this evening.
WGVU talked with one of the students sponsoring the event.
“To help educate and to hopefully stop the anti-Semitism and the hate and just to help promote acceptance and to promote love, I don’t know, it’s just such a dark time right now.”
Allison Egrin is hopeful something good will come out of tonight’s event at Grand Valley State University. Egrin is the President of Hillel, one of two Jewish campus organizations hosting a candlelight vigil-- 11 people were killed in a mass shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh on Saturday.
“ So tonight we have Hillel, and A-Pi, which is the Jewish fraternity on campus, coming together to give some speeches, the provost, President T-Haas are all makin g statements. Coming together to support one another and to honor the lives that were lost.”
Egrin says the call for unity spreads across numerous campus and worldly concerns.
“So, the world is just full of so much hate right now, the bombs sent against politicians, I think two African Americans were shot yesterday at a grocery store. So, while the Jewish community is continuing to face hatred, so is every other group so at this point, no one is safe from hatred, it’s unfortunate that that’s the sad reality we’re facing in today’s climate.”
The Vigil will be held at the Clock Tower on the Allendale Campus at 7:15 pm.
