The Mercer Island School District will recognize National Gun Violence Awareness Day, also known as #WearOrange Day, this Friday, according to the Mercer Island PTA Council and district administrators.

“We, the Mercer Island PTA Council, are horrified and grief-stricken by this scourge of senseless violence that’s resulting in the lives of our children being unduly cut short,” reads a press release, which points to the recent school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, and other school shootings this year. The PTA council noted that the wear-orange stand against gun violence and honoring survivors of gun violence will continue throughout the weekend.

The wearing of orange honors Hadiya Pendleton, who was shot and killed on a playground in Chicago in 2013. Pendleton’s friends commemorated her life by donning the color hunters wear in the woods to protect themselves and others. Now observed every June, Wear Orange honors Pendleton and thousands of others who are killed with guns and are shot and wounded every year, according to the PTA council’s release.

The PTA council noted that there will be a gathering for all to commemorate National Gun Violence Awareness Day at 4 p.m. on Friday at Mercerdale Park. For more information, visit https://fb.me/e/2rV9hc5cz.

“It is a big lift to end gun violence in our country, but as with all big lifts, they start with a step, and our community can take another step together on Friday,” Superintendent Donna Colosky and Deputy Superintendent Fred Rundle wrote in an online letter to the school community.