New efforts to turn 5/14 into special day of remembrance

Next week will mark three years since the Buffalo mass shooting and plans are in place to take back the day by getting everyone out into their communities.

Clementine Gold Group is hosting the 5/14 Day of Service & Remembrance, a day that will play host to city-wide acts of service and a community gathering in honor of the lives lost in the racially-motivated May 14, 2022 tragedy.

“The 5/14 Day of Service & Remembrance does not seek to sum up their lives or the depth of what was taken. It is one of many ways we hold space for grief, honor the people we lost, and affirm the right of Black communities to safety, dignity, and care,” the Clementine Colgd Group said. “We also recognize the survivors—those who were in the store that day, the witnesses, the families who carry this loss, and the neighbors who have been retraumatized each time they return to that place.”

Acts of service include writing notes of encouragement to elders or students, delivering care kits to East Side neighbors, refilling community fridges with fresh food and water, supporting Black-owned East Side businesses, volunteering and more. 

“The 5/14 Day of Service & Remembrance is not a solution, and it is not closure. It is an invitation to begin or continue wherever we are—through acts of service, moments of connection, or simply by showing up for one another. It is a way to say: we have not forgotten. We will not look away,” CGG continued. “In their memory, and in community, we continue forward—with care, with purpose, and with each other.”

Tops Market will host a memorial ceremony at 2 p.m.

“It’s really important to us that we don’t forget that day and that we keep it in our remembrance, but then we also take it back and create a celebration of life for those victims and those folks in the community that we have relationships with,” Ekua Mends-Adioo, president and principal consultant, Clementine Gold Group, said.

Buffalo Common Council Majority Leader Leah Halton Pope wants May 14 to become a day of service.

She said she will bring a resolution forward to the Buffalo Common Council to make it official.

She also requested Acting Mayor Chris Scanlon to close City Hall next Wednesday.