“Love conquers all,” was the message at the July 23 Stop the Violence march through the streets of Poughkeepsie co-sponsored by our union. NYSNA members marched alongside Dutchess County elected leaders, neighbors, and friends to raise awareness about rising gun violence and bring an end to the scourge of mass killings in America with Orlando, Baton Rouge and Dallas the latest in a long line of tragedies.

Innoh Ngbodi, an RN at Vassar Brothers Medical Center, joined the march. “This is my community,” he said. “As nurses, we see these incidents firsthand when the victims of gun violence come to the hospital. This violence effects the community. It effects the people we serve. The hospital gets overwhelmed with this kind of violence on a daily basis.”

This was the second year that the Poughkeepsie community came together in a show of solidarity to take back the streets from gun violence.