In New Jersey, 2nd Exhibition of Portraits Opens

A morning marked by an opportunity to view the beautiful exhibition of portraits followed by inspirational and compelling speakers took place on March 13 at the Brown University Center of Rowan College of South Jersey. College VIPs, local business leaders, gun violence awareness group leaders, loved ones of victims portrayed in the portraits, and artists spoke to the rapt crowd. Judy MacKenzie, who is responsible for bringing Souls Shot Portrait Project to New Jersey and planning the event, served as MC for the morning. She has provided us with a list of the speakers and participants and their contact information, reprinted below, to encourage a continuation of the momentum that was felt that morning; a feeling of connection and solidarity in the quest to solve the gun violence problem and take concrete action to do so. Thank you to Judy and to Jackie Sandro for making this exhibition and the morning possible!

Jan Hanselman, Dean of Behavioral Sciences and Law & Social Justice jhanselm@rcsj.edu

Carla Reyes Miller – RCSJ Class of 2020  reyescarla03@gmail.com   Carla graduated from Rowan College South Jersey in 2022 with a degree in Social Work.   She attended college while working full-time in honor of her son, Kevin Wayne Miller, whose portrait was painted by RCSJ art instructor Eoin Kinnarney. 

Melissa Fox, Chief Operating Officer, Acenda Health  Mfox@acendahealth.org    Melissa moderated an excellent symposium hosted by Acenda Health called Merging Science and Safety: Addressing Gun Violence as a Public Health Issue at our Gloucester Campus in May 2022. 

David Moore, Associate Vice President of Behavioral Health Service Lines, Inspira Health Network, Inc.   MooreD3@ihn.org    David spoke about the New Jersey Hospital-Based Violence Intervention Program (NJHVIP) grant that Inspira was awarded with their partner Life Worth Living. 

John Fuqua, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Life Worth Living  johnfuqua@lifeworthlivingnj.org     Life Worth Living is a non-profit organization that focuses on youth development and encourages young people to live long and fulfilling lives.  John is a former high school teacher who left the classroom in hopes of saving his nephew, who tragically lost his life to a gang-related crime.

Cathie McGeehan, volunteer from Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America  campedrn@gmail.com    Cathie shared information about Be SMART, a safe gun storage education program, and One Thing You Can Do, which provides information about NJ’s Red Flag laws.  Cathie can arrange for speakers to make presentations on these initiatives.

Carthornia Kouroupos, RCSJ Assistant Professor ckouroup@rcsj.edu    Carthornia is an English instructor at our Gloucester campus.  Her brother Ronald Sanders was taken by gun violence, and he is memorialized in a portrait by Rebecca Thornburgh.

Cumberland County Prosecutor Jennifer Webb-McRae   JENNIFERWE@CumberlandCountyNJ.gov  Ms. Webb-McRae wasn’t able to join us yesterday, but she is a strong supporter of the Souls Shot Portrait Project and violence prevention efforts.

Karen Barnett, MUMs - Mothers Uplifting Mums   Barnettk@cityofbridgeton.com  Karen is the director of the Bridgeton Municipal Alliance and a lead organizer of MUMs – Mothers Uplifting Mothers.  Karen visited the exhibition at our Arts and Innovation Center in Millville last year, and signed up a number of local loved ones for this exhibition.

Jacqueline Sandro-Greenwell, RCSJ Director of Fine Arts   jgreenwe@rcsj.edu    Jackie created a beautiful ceramic portrait for this exhibition featuring Angel Montes.

April Venable, System Vice President of Clinical Services Lines, Inspira   VenableA@ihn.org

Peggi Breuninger of Crisis Response Canines  pbreuninger@crisiscanines.org    The Crisis Response Canines provide comfort to those impacted by personal or community crisis events.  They have worked with families and first responders at Parkland, Pulse, and (sadly) many other mass shootings.  During calm times they make community visits to places like schools, hospitals, nursing homes and both RCSJ campuses. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzNJe3JTqCo An important video that should be shared with everyone you know! Part of the Be Smart initiative to store firearms safely.