March For Our Lives Rally In Farmingdale Draws Over 1500 In Attendance
Glen Cove, NY - March 26, 2018 - The March for Our Lives Rally hosted by Congressman Tom Suozzi and high school students from across Long Island held in Farmingdale on Saturday, March 24th drew a crowd of over 1500. Featured speakers included Suozzi, Nassau DA Madeline Singas and Kevin McCarthy, survivor of the 1993 LIRR Shooting.
High school students from 16 high schools across Long Island served on the planning committee for the rally. The students planned the program, promoted the rally, introduced each speaker, served as featured speakers and made the call to action that closed the rally.
Suozzi’s remarks focused on how the leaders in Washington have failed and it was up to the students to keep this fight going.
“We have to send a clear message to the young people that we need them...because the adults have failed us,” said Suozzi. “Don’t underestimate how powerful you can be.
“There’s something wrong in our country...but when it comes to the issue of gun violence, it can be made right by these young people. And they don’t give up, and they will keep on pushing people to do something about this issue.
“In these voices of our young people, we hear the greatness of our country. In those faces we see the hope of America,” continued Suozzi.
Suozzi also urged the young people to make their voices heard by voting.
McCarthy, who was shot, and whose father, Dennis, was killed, in the 1993 Long Island Rail Road shooting. McCarthy’s mother, Carolyn McCarthy, served in the US Congress from 1997-2015 also spoke and called on all elected officials to stand up for the citizens and not the special interests.
Several students on the planning committee also spoke, including a senior from Hills West High School who talked about her young cousin who was shot and killed in a random shooting in Florida, students from Hicksville High School who spoke of a special project their school did of post-it notes they sent to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, the scene of the massacre that launched the March for Our Lives movement across the country, and a letter written by a survivor of the Parkland shooting and sent to a Herricks High School was read by students from Herricks.
Also speaking were SUNY Farmingdale President, John Nader, who welcomed everyone, Dr. Ken Bossert, Superintendent of Elwood Union Free School District and President of the Suffolk County School Superintendents Association and Dr. Jeff Reynolds, President and CEO of the Family and Children’s Association.
The rally ended with the student planning committee asking the participants to sign a petition calling for congress to enact bi-partisan, common sense gun reform, that will be delivered by Suozzi to Congressional Leaders Paul Ryan and Nancy Pelosi. They also asked participants to sign a banner with #NeverAgain printed on it that will be sent to the students at MSD high school in Parkland, FL and asked for a pledge from all of the students attending the rally to stay active and keep the movement going.
The rally took place on Saturday, March 24th, 11:00am at the Nold Hall Athletic Complex at Farmingdale State College.