CHICAGO — Tonya Burch, a mother who lost two sons to gun violence, organized her annual ‘Taking Back Our Community’ Brunch Saturday.

Every year ahead of Mother’s Day, Burch organizes the event as a means to help mothers come together and cope with the tragedy of losing children to gun violence by celebrating their memory.

“I just love to hear stories from other people because it uplifts me,” said Sharon Purnell, who lost her only son, Damien, and her husband to gun violence. “It gives me a chance to hear somebody else’s story and I can relate to them.”

The day was filled with food and fellowship among the mothers in attendance, with each going home with earrings bearing pictures of their sons and daughters. Delphine Cherry, whose son and daughter both died from gun violence, went home with a picture of one child in each earring.

“I have been in this fight ever since,” Cherry said. “[I’m] trying to get as many guns off the street as I can … For my two kids that I have lost, I’m going to do anything and everything that I can to honor them. And the best way I can, is legally get the guns off the street.”

The group Purpose Over Pain, which meets out of St. Sabina Church, will also honor mothers who have lost children to gun violence Sunday morning, where they are inviting mothers to place flags bearing their children’s names in a memorial garden.