For the last five years, the Peace Flowers initiative has distributed flowers to mothers, on Mother’s Day, who lost children to gun violence. This project exists as a collaboration between organizations that are committed to both supporting victims of gun violence and developing green spaces in Chicago including: Purpose Over Pain, the Stone Temple Baptist Church, Homan Grown L3C, Chicago Survivors, and the Goldin Institute. This year, the Chicago Peace Flowers campaign delivered to 600 mothers across the city of Chicago through 10 different organizations.

The Peace Flowers Campaign began in 2020 as a project of the Chicago Peace Fellows Mutual Aid Collaborative, a network that emerged in response to the twin epidemics of COVID-19 and violence in Chicago. The project was developed by the Mutual Aid Collaborative with the goals of bringing comfort to mothers who had lost their children to gun violence and to build lasting peacebuilding and greening projects in CHicago . Founding members include Annamaria Leon of Homan Grown, L3C, Reshorna Fitzpatrick of the Historic Stone Temple, Pamela Montgomery-Bosley of Purpose Over Pain, and Bertha Purnell of Mothers on a Mission 28. Early in 2025, Bertha Purnell, a bold activist for gun violence prevention, died and this year’s Peace Flowers campaign was held in memory of her work.

A photo of Annamaria Leon and Reshorna Fitzpatrick, members of the Peace Flowers Committee who are building peace in Chicago.

Building Peace in Chicago and Promoting Green Spaces

This year, the Peace Flowers campaign focused their strategy on making the project more sustainable by defining their branding and mission. They established the Mexican Sunflower and Milkweed as their official flowers and created a logo featuring the Monarch Butterfly. Both the Mexican Sunflower and the Milkweed attract pollinators, including the Monarch Butterfly, which resonates with the project’s desire to pollinate healing and peace-making practices in Chicago and beyond. In 2025, the migratory Monarch is proposed to be listed as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act.

“On so many levels the Monarch and its endangered status serve as a metaphor for the struggles our communities of color face—our struggle for a natural and peaceful existence, to have a life path filled with opportunity and sustenance, and to be granted freedom of movement through the world and the ability to share our beauty and creativity with life and our fellow creatures.”

-Annamaria Leon

Each year, the Peace Flowers campaign also includes both a card and a packet of seeds along with the flowers. This provided the group with an opportunity to develop their branding and incorporate the Mexican Sunflower, Milkweed, and Monarch Butterfly into their work. For the last five years, the Peace Flowers campaign has commissioned art from a local artist for the card. This year, they worked with local artist, Isaiah Alexander, to develop both a card and logo featuring these symbols. Sunflower seed packets were also included with each bouquet so that more green spaces can be created and healthier communities can be promoted by their residents.

Bringing in New Partners

The Peace Flowers project also brought in new collaborators, who helped with distributing the flowers to a broader network of mothers. This year, 2022 Chicago Peace Fellow, Maria Pike, joined the committee to help distribute flowers to a number of gun violence survivor groups that she is connected with. Jasmine Rhone from Chicago Survivors also joined the committee and assisted in sharing flowers with a group of mothers who she holds a Mother’s Day brunch for. Bouquets were also shared with long-time collaborators including Purpose Over Pain for their annual Mother’s Day Spa Day and Stone Temple Baptist Church.

Despite ongoing concerns surrounding violence, the work of community-based organizations on projects like the Peace Flowers campaign makes Chicago a more peaceful and beautiful place to live. The Peace Flowers committee is now focused on continuing the campaign’s impact outside of Mother’s Day weekend. The committee is currently looking to bring in urban gardeners and greening activists who can grow and arrange flowers and use the proceeds to spread awareness about gun violence and create green spaces in communities impacted by gun violence. Their goal is to create a long term sustainable funding stream for peace organizations to make Chicago a healthier and more beautiful place for all of its residents. You can support the work of the Peace Flowers project here.

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