Still Folding

Thank you to everyone who has sent in cranes. We are not yet at 37,000, but are getting there, slowly and surely. I am writing to give an update on the project.

I had to take a step back this spring to take care of my family, my friends and myself after a series of deaths in my community. In this time I was thankful to receive all the cranes from all over the world. Some packages had a few cranes, some had thousands. Some cranes were in memory of loved ones. Some were anonymous. Each crane, named or not, represented someone lost, and someone caring enough to think of that life lost. 

I have, at present, just over 20,000 cranes.

Although this project is taking longer than I anticipated, it is no less important than when it started. On Monday I returned from a couple days away from all media access to find not one, but two mass shootings had occurred in that time. Today I will sit in a cafe and fold a crane for each of the victims. I will have a conversation with whomever asks what I am doing. I will encourage each of them to call their representatives, to contact Moms Demand Action, to take some action that can help our movement gain momentum. I will help then fold cranes so that they too can take that time to think of the victims.

We will continue to accept cranes for the foreseeable future. I have more paper to mail out if anybody needs it. If you have cranes to send, the address is Orange Origami Cranes, PO Box 246, Gloucester, MA 01931.

Plans for a public display will be announced once we are closer to our goal.
Thank you for all of your help.

As we approach National Gun Violence Awareness Day, I wanted to give an update on the Orange Origami Cranes project.

Cranes keep coming in. Thank you for that! Although the project is taking longer than expected, it has also reached further than we could have imagined.  I have received cranes from all over the country and all over the world.  I have lots of cranes left to count.  As of now we have around 20,000 orange origami cranes.

Our current deadline is July 1. If you have cranes to mail in, please send them to
Orange Origami Cranes
PO Box 246
Gloucester, MA 01931

If you need orange origami paper, please let me know.  I have more to share.

If you are having a folding event this weekend, please share photos if you are comfortable doing so.

Thank you for all of your help and support.  

Several groups have expressed a want to include making orange origami cranes as part of their events for  #WearOrange 2019, which is from June 7-9.  In order to make the project open to as many people as possible, I am extending the timeline for making cranes.

If you need paper for you or your organization to fold cranes, please email me at orangeamanda@yahoo.com.

Thank you for your continued support!

Some cranes...

Keep 'em coming!

Thank you to everyone who has sent cranes, and to everybody still folding.

With the support of the Galen Gibson fund we purchased a lot of orange origami paper.  If you would like to host a fold-in, or would like some for yourself to fold, please email me at orangeamanda@yahoo.com.

We have until May 1 to get all the cranes folded in order to string them to display by National Gun Violence Awareness Day 2019. 

Many thanks again!

Mail Your Cranes

If you are making cranes and would like to send them in, here is the address:

Orange Origami Cranes
P. O. Box 246
Gloucester, MA 01931

Thank you.

Memorial Day

20 veterans commit suicide every day. 66% of veteran suicides are the result of a firearm. This Memorial Day weekend I am making cranes for these veterans.

Why cranes?

Somebody asked me, "Why cranes?"

I had been thinking about the number of gun violence deaths in the United States each year, about how hard it was to understand.  I thought that if we had 37,000 of something, anything really, we would be able to see how big that number really is.  I wanted to make it something you could touch, something you could feel.  I wanted to make it something you had to do.

The crane is a symbol of peace and hope.  There is a Japanese tradition of making 1000 origami cranes which are then strung together.  Some  claim that anyone who folds 1000 cranes will be granted a wish.  Some claim that anyone who folds 1000 cranes will get eternal good luck, happiness and freedom from illness and injury.

We wish for an end to gun violence.

With every crane I fold I am thinking about gun violence.  I am setting an intention.  Sometimes I think of my friend Galen.  Sometimes I think of his family.  I think of things I can do, people I can write to and call.  Sometimes when I am folding cranes I am gathering courage to ask the parents of my children's friends if there are guns in the house and how they are stored.  Sometimes I am thinking of the people I don't know, that I will never know.

I feel less hopeless when I am folding cranes. I am taking that time, that moment, to pay attention to gun violence.  

When I make cranes in public I am starting the conversation about gun violence.  It helps turn thoughts and prayers into action.  Make a crane.  Make a phone call.  Write a letter. Call your representative. None of these actions take too long, or too much.  Each small action is part of something bigger.

100 Cranes

A friend handed me a bag of orange cranes last night.  100 cranes.

"I thought it was a lot," she said, "then I realized it wasn't even 1%."

100 cranes is just a little more than would represent the 96 deaths each day.

We sat together and folded more cranes.

Where We Got Our Numbers

We chose the year 2016 because it is the most recent year with data available from the CDC.

Our number, 37,000, includes both homicides and suicides. 

Here is a link to CDC data on the Everytown For Gun Safety website:
https://everytownresearch.org/gun-violence-by-the-numbers/

We rounded down to 37,000 because it is much easier to say than 37,863.   We chose the lower number rather than rounding up to 38,000 in order to not appear as if we are exaggerating the data.  We will be working toward making a full 37,863 cranes.

In 2016  over 37,000 people lost their lives to gun violence in the United States.

37,000.

We are making orange origami cranes to remember each of these people.  

Origami cranes are a symbol of hope and healing. Each crane is a prayer, a thought, a remembrance. 
Every crane folded is an action.

Orange is the color of National Gun Violence Awareness Day. Read about it at wearorange.org. 
We are making orange cranes to remember victims of gun violence.

You can help.  Make orange cranes.  Make cranes in public to start the conversation about gun violence. 
Make cranes marked with the names of the people we lost. 
Make cranes to remember the people you never knew.

We will add your cranes to a public display.  37,000 orange cranes.