Stop The Violence! Stop The Shooting! Let's Come Together!

Van Ikner and Residents of CARBONDALE Illinois Say! Enough is enough for some civic leaders and community activists Begin to address gun violence and other social ills in the city.

They also hope to raise money at a future fundraiser to help the victim of a Jan. 27th 2014 shooting outside a Carbondale school. The victim remains hospitalize, say organizers of a new community group, Enough is Enough.

“We just wanted to come together and generate some dialogue,” said organizer Van Ikner, Was Shot Twelve Times and Survived by The Grace and Mercy of God four years ago in Carbondale.

Van Ikner Said “We just decided we wanted to say enough is enough not so much that it is about anything more than we are enough, together, collectively, as a community” he added.

He was joined by nearly two dozen other people at his Curbside Family Style Restaurant who concluded the meeting with plans for an outreach program and the fundraiser.

Group members plan a Walk and Talk on March 23 2014 during which they will venture into different neighborhoods of the city and talk with residents and others about issues and solutions, Ikner said.

They are also planning an April 6 fundraiser that will double as a forum for further conversations. Entertainment, art and other activities are being planned.

Ikner said one goal of the group is to foster greater unity and cohesion between people who with pooled resources would be better equipped to do something about not just gun violence, but also homelessness, hungry children and more.