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More than 200 brightly colored T-shirts surround the Arch Street Meeting House. On each one, written in marker, is the name, age and date when the person being remembered was killed in an act of gun violence, in Philadelphia and its surrounding counties. The memorial includes those murdered between 2019 and 2023.

The event is a cooperative effort between several groups, operating as Friends Ending Gun Violence Collaborative, overseen by the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, and in partnership with Heeding God’s Call to End Gun Violence. The Memorial to the Lost exhibit was dedicated Friday, Nov. 8.

Dr. Movita Johnson-Harrell lost both of her sons to gun violence, one in 2008 and the other in 2011. She said each was a victim of mistaken identity. Their names were listed among the deceased as part of the memorial.

Johnson-Harrell is the founder and co-executive director of The CHARLES Foundation. The name is an acronym, standing for “Creating Healthy Alternative Results in Less Emotional Suffering.”

She said her reason for starting the organization was simple. “I began the fight for our young people on both sides of the gun, to keep them from the cemetery and the penitentiary,” she said. “We don’t care that gun violence is down 40% [in the past year, according to the city]. One homicide is one too many.”

Organizers from other groups joined the event to spread a peaceful message.

Bryan Miller, co-founder and executive director of Heeding God’s Call to End Gun Violence, who helped to spearhead the event, is an advocate and a survivor of the toll of gun violence.

Miller said his only brother, FBI Special Agent Mike Miller, was shot and killed in Washington, D.C., in 1994 by a gunman with a concealed assault pistol.

“It was tough,” said Miller. “I left my career in international business and started working advocating to try to end gun violence.”

Miller calls it “God’s work,” and says the faith-based group’s mission helps him to cope with his loss. It also provides a positive way to contribute to gun-violence solutions, he said. “Being able to get up every morning and be excited about the work that we’re doing at Heeding God’s Call — instead of being devastated.”

Christie Duncan-Tessmer is the general secretary of the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting.

She said a member of the Quaker community was shot and killed at a party two years ago.

Duncan-Tessmer saw firsthand how gun violence was destructive to the lives and families that surrounded the victim.

“Gun violence destroys the community, and God and our community create healing,” said Duncan-Tessmer. “We’re moving toward healing with this Heeding God’s Call display and we will continue to move in that direction every day into the future.”

There are currently 640 T-shirts displayed around the city and the surrounding counties as part of the memorial.