2023

  • by Mia Nelson Wed, July 12th 2023, 4:59 PM EDT

    LYNCHBURG, Va. (WSET) — A foundation in the Lynchburg community is making sure every child has the tools they need to succeed. The Shawn Moss Wellness and Growth Foundation is collecting school supplies for its annual backpack drive. Brenda Moss created the foundation about 5 years after she lost her son, Shawn, to gun violence in 2014. She said they plan to give out 100 backpacks at the event later this month. They already have backpacks, but they need things like crayons, pencils, calculators, notebook paper, folders, and composition books. She said this is a way to honor her son and help the community. "Shawn loved kids and he wanted to see kids successful in whatever they did and he wanted them to know that there was nothing they cannot do," Moss said. "So, the backpack drive says that if I'm not able to get certain things there's a resource that I can do that. Having kids established and having them have the things that they need, sets them up for success, and that's what we want to do." Moss said if you would like to help, you can either give a monetary donation or donate supplies. She said you can give a monetary donation through Venmo by sending it to @brenda-moss-8 or if you want to give supplies you can give her a call at 434-907-5790 and she will come and pick it up. The event will be July 29 at Jefferson Park from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. Full Article

  • Danner Evans Thu, April 27th 2023, 5:30 PM EDT

    LYNCHBURG, Va. (WSET) — Brenda Moss and Nadine and Dave Durbin are parents whose lives changed forever with a knock at the door. “I was like who is this knocking like that and it was the neighbor across the street," Moss recalled. "She said Shawn has been shot.” "In that moment you move in slow motion because you don't want to connect the dots," Moss said. "You don't want to connect the dots that someone just said your oldest son has been shot." Moss' son, 34-year-old Shawn Moss, was shot 17 times on 11th and Polk Streets in 2014 in Lynchburg. Moss' son, 34-year-old Shawn Moss, was shot 17 times on 11th and Polk Streets in 2014 in Lynchburg. (Credit: WSET file) "I'm waiting to hear the next morning Shawn try to tiptoe up the stairs to look in my room to see if I'm ok. I didn't hear it," Moss said. "Now reality is beginning to set in. He's not coming back." Nadine’s 22-year-old son, Aaron Brumfield, never came back home either. Brumfield was shot and killed in his bedroom during a home invasion on River Oak Drive in Forest in 2018. Nadine and Dave Durbin's 22-year-old son, Aaron Brumfield, was shot and killed in his bedroom during a home invasion on River Oak Drive in Forest in 2018. (Credit: Nadine and Dave Durbin) "I think both our jaws hit the table when we found out it was a home invasion," Dave Durbin said. "There were so many shots fired. His room was just riddled," Nadine Durbin said. "There were bullets everywhere: walls, pictures, furniture." Nadine and Dave Durbin's 22-year-old son, Aaron Brumfield, was shot and killed in his bedroom during a home invasion on River Oak Drive in Forest in 2018. (Credit: Nadine and Dave Durbin) "Well, her first comment was not a murder it was an assassination," Dave Durbin said. "You wonder what Aaron had to go through: the fear and the adrenaline," Nadine Durbin said. "They just had to be terrified." For all of these parents, the loss is incomprehensible. “What human would take the life of another human with 17 bullets?" Moss said. "There's no respect for human life," Nadine Durbin said. As they cling to the memories of their sons, both families wanted to share their stories of loss. They hope to impact the epidemic of gun violence coming to a crescendo in our community right now. "When you look at gun violence, there has to be communication," David Durbin said. Nadine and Dave Brumfield's 22-year-old son, Aaron Brumfield, was shot and killed in his bedroom during a home invasion on River Oak Drive in Forest in 2018. (Credit: Nadine and Dave Brumfield) "We believe in the 2nd Amendment. We believe in the right to own a gun. but you have to have respect for it. You have to know how to use it," Nadine Durbin said. "Honoring Shawn is doing what I'm doing now -- speaking out saying once you make the decision to pull that trigger there's no going back," Moss said. Moss also formed the Shawn Moss Wellness and Growth Foundation. Her son loved children and coached basketball teams. This foundation helps to carry on his legacy. Brenda Moss also formed the Shawn Moss Wellness and Growth Foundation. Her son loved children and coached basketball teams. This foundation helps to carry on his legacy. (Credit: Brenda Moss) "So we are trying to bring resources like education, entrepreneurship, because these are words most black families don't hear," Moss said. "We want to fix it so people win. So that they know they are valued. So that they know they have something to offer in this world." To learn more about the foundation in his memory and how to get involved email; bdmoss61@gmail.com.Full Article

2022

  • It started off like any other evening. A mom was making burgers in the kitchen wondering how many folks would end up around the table for supper. But the course of the evening that followed was far from any other evening as it would change the course of Brenda Moss’ life forever: Moss’ 34-year-old son wasn’t coming home for dinner. The birth of the Shawn Moss Wellness and Growth Foundation (SWAG Foundation) was the result of the death of Shawn Moss, who was brutally murdered in Lynchburg, Va. On that August evening in 2014, after a few harrowing hours of chasing ambulances and trying to find her son, Moss received the worst news a parent could ever receive.

    “You see it in movies, a doctor comes in covered in blood and they’re explaining things to a family, but this I knew was different because someone else was with the doctor – and it was the chaplain,” recalled Moss. “They said, ‘Your son is dead, and because it’s a homicide, you can’t see him.’” Moss witnessed the earth-shattering impact of gun violence first-hand, but she’s not the only one. According to Everytown, Black Americans are disproportionately affected by gun violence – experiencing 10 times the number of gun homicides and 18 times the number of assault injuries. “You wonder how do you function, how do you move forward, how do I get up? How do I understand that Shawn won’t come up the steps to look into my room to make sure I’m OK,” Moss said. “There was no denying Shawn. He was 6-foot-7 and his smile lit up the room without even saying anything. He knew when I was working through something and he’d always come to me to say, ‘There’s nothing you can’t do.’” Those words echoed in Moss’ head in the days, weeks and months that followed Shawn’s death, and it was what drove her to establish the SWAG Foundation in the name of her son – that even in his death, motivated and drove his mother to take her next step forward. “I had two choices, I could lay down and just take what happened and deprive my other two sons of the love they deserved, or I could fight,” she said. “I got up and I began to fight. The statistics show that the Black and Brown community is the most highly-affected community when it comes to gun violence – education and resources are two big factors. If we can’t get that education and those resources back in the community, we’ll always be the highest.” Today, the SWAG Foundation provides services to disproportionately-affected communities that have been impacted by gun violence. The long-term vision of the foundation is to find a brick-and-mortar space to provide holistic education for Black youth in Lynchburg, to include education surrounding financial literacy, health and wellness, art, technology and career skills development. In the meantime, Moss is building relationships and partnerships to ensure education doesn’t stop and that those life-saving resources and educational moments are continually integrated and reiterated in the community. During the holidays, the SWAG Foundation hosts an annual Angel Tree event, where the community can support their neighbors by purchasing wish list items off Amazon. But most recently, it has ramped up its educational access efforts to ensure Black youth and young Black adults have the tools they need to succeed. “We hosted Laptops to Lynchburg, where we raised enough money to get 10 laptops for the community; I also recently partnered with the City of Lynchburg to go into recreation centers to speak to the kids, to talk about self-care and wellness,” Moss said. “We’re also working with a group that does The Duffel Bag Project, which gives foster youth a bag with personal items, pillows, sheets, toothpaste, scriptures. We’re going to be incorporating a duffel bag for every youth on our Angel Tree list this year.” The goal of the SWAG Foundation is to help set up Black community members with the education and resources they need to succeed, delivered to them by people who look like them. “Sometimes we’re not told that we’re valuable in the Black community – we get lost in the cracks,” Moss said. “I want to build hope and set you up for success, not only in community, but in life and leave a generation with a wealth of knowledge so we can change the status.” To this day, Shawn’s voice is still a driving force in her work and the mission of the SWAG Foundation. “When I think of Shawn and I hear in my head, ‘There’s nothing you can’t do,’ I know I will not quit.” To learn more about the SWAG Foundation, visit its website or donate here. Full Story

  • by Chelsea KingSun, June 5th 2022, 12:44 PM EDT

    LYNCHBURG, Va. (WSET) — A Lynchburg mom is using Wear Orange Weekend, a national gun violence prevention movement, to call attention to gun violence and provide resources to underserved communities. "Today, we are bringing awareness to the Wear Orange Weekend, bringing education about gun violence and how we can end it in the black community," said Brenda Moss, founder of the Shawn Moss Wellness and Growth Foundation, an organization that aims to decrease gun violence through education and wellness services. She held a family-friendly event Saturday at Daniels Hill Recreation Center, where family members who lost a loved one at the hand of gun violence could create a Soul Box. "A Soul Box is a way to honor a loved one or someone that you know that has been wounded or injured by gun violence or taken away by gun violence. It's a way to honor them," said Moss. Honoring a loved one is something Moss knows all too well. "On my son's Soul Box, we found a picture of a basketball because he loves basketball," she said. Her son, Shawn Moss, was shot multiple times and killed back in 2014. Brenda started the Shawn Moss Wellness and Growth Foundation in his honor. "I think it's really important to consider how you are feeling, said Julie Palmer, a mental health clinician at Anderson's Counseling Center. Julia Palmer partnered with Moss on Saturday's event. Palmer says having an outlet to express grief is vital. "The Soul Boxes are a great way for families of victims to be able to work through their grief and their loss," she said. It's also a way to have something to hold onto in memory of a loved one. "When our loved ones are taken, we don't have anything to hold onto we think everything is gone, a Soul Box is just what it says, the soul of a person that honors them," said Moss. A basketball tournament was also held in Shawn's honor, as well as a self-care event for survivors of gun violence.Full Article

  • By Will Thomas Published: Jun. 4, 2022 at 6:32 PM EDT

    LYNCHBURG, Va. (WDBJ) - In 2014, Shawn Moss was shot and killed in Lynchburg. His mother Brenda Moss decided to take action. “Other than just doing nothing, or just saying let someone else do it, I had to figure out a way to honor Shawn,” said Moss. Through that tragedy, Brenda Moss started the Shawn Moss Wellness and Growth Foundation. On Saturday, she hosted a “Soul Box Folding” event, which gives families a chance to honor and remember their loved ones who were lost to gun violence. “I bring these type of events to different communities, different recreation centers, so that we can become aware and no one else has to go through the pain that I’ve gone through.” Awareness. Moss said that continues to be a major factor in addressing gun violence. “We have to say, how bad do we want our community to heal? And we can’t get the healing without education, we can’t get that healing without coming together.” Moss has lived in Lynchburg her entire life and said she feels gun violence is worse than it used to be. She said events like these can’t be one and done, there needs to be continued efforts to address the issue. “People want to trust someone and they can’t get that trust if you show up once and never come back. You have to come back and ask what do you need, not what I want to give you, how can I help you, not this is what I want you to do. I believe in building bridges where they’re broken.” Moss said a lot of those bridges are broken in the Black community, but she’s determined to help build them back up. “We have to understand, we have to want our communities back. I want my community back and I’m going to do everything I can to get the community back.” Full Article

  • This Loss We Carry: Lynchburg, VA

    Daura Museum of Art | January 24 - March 11, 2022

    The 1,176 Soul Boxes on view represent approximately 6 months of Virginia gunfire injuries and deaths by violence, defense, accidents, and suicide. The Soul Box exhibit, revealing the scale of the gunfire epidemic, continues the Daura Museum's series of art exhibitions highlighting social issues, including drug addiction and domestic violence.

    Daura Museum of Art at the University of Lynchburg

    Workshop: Make a Soul Box | March 3, 2022 at 6-8 PM

    The program is free and open to the public at the Daura Museum and offered in partnership with the Shawn Moss Wellness and Growth Foundation, an organization committed to uplifting and educating in order to reduce the negative impact of gun violence in our communities. More About This Project

2021

  • WSET by Alessandra YoungThu, August 5th 2021, 10:53 PM EDT

    With crime on the rise in Lynchburg, people like Brenda Moss want to do something to help. Moss lost her son, Shawn, who was shot and killed in 2014. She now honors him every day through the Shawn Moss Wellness and Growth Foundation. Brenda Moss lost her son, Shawn, to gun violence in 2014 and now works to raise awareness through the Shawn Moss Wellness and Growth Foundation. "Making his name said, letting people know about gun violence and how it affects families. How I don't want another mother to go through what I went through," Moss said. She wants to see more resources available to the community. During her event, she gave out food, school and household supplies, and helped raise awareness. Be Smart is an educational outreach program that teaches gun safety. Katie Cyphert with Be Smart, an educational outreach program that teaches gun safety, reminds gun owners to always keep their guns unloaded and locked away, to educate children about gun safety and to never leave a gun unattended. "Unfortunately, it's all too common. Just the other day, there was a young child in Roanoke who passed away. That has been very difficult, I'm sure, for the community. There are simple steps, but it is the responsibility of adults," Cyphert said. Full Story and Video

  • By Amanda Lee Updated: Jul 26, 2021 / 05:41 AM EDT

    LYNCHBURG, Va. (WFXR) — Many in Lynchburg are questioning a recent uptick in crime and gun violence. Some say Lynchburg has seen too many shootings this year. As community leaders continue to promote safety and take action in Lynchburg, a number of community members say there aren’t enough people actually trying to make all neighborhoods safe. Brenda Moss founded the Shawn Moss Wellness and Growth Foundation. “The most devastating part of living in Lynchburg, was when my son, Shawn, my oldest son was shot and killed in 2014,” said Moss. The foundation focuses on bringing education and awareness on local gun violence issues. “The crime in Lynchburg has grown, and it has grown at an enormous rate. And if we want to speak to crime, we have to speak to poverty, and we have to speak to education,” said Moss. She adds that one issue is that Black and brown communities are hurting, while other parts of the city are thriving. “It’s almost as if there’s a curtain hanging between the two sides. Unless the side that’s not being affected opens up the curtain and really sees what’s behind it, then nothing will be done,” said Moss. Angela Payne-Cox owns a local non-profit, Lady Builder LLC., a Christian non-profit that practices outreach in Lynchburg. “A lot of children, because they may be in single-home families, a lot of our children are dealing with rejection issues,” said Payne-Cox. According to Payne-Cox, there’s a lack of productive activities for area youth and a lack of funding for them to remain consistent. “They have to have consistency. We cant come somewhere one time and not come back,” said Payne-Cox. On Aug. 5, the Shawn Moss Wellness and Growth Foundation will be collecting remembrance objects for those who’ve lost a loved one to gun violence. They’ll be traveling to D.C. to add it to the Gun Violence Memorial Project at the National Mall. The ‘Shawn Moss Wellness and Growth Foundation’ is also having a safety and self-care event at the Jubilee Center on Thursday, Aug. 5 from 4 to 7 p.m. They’ll be celebrating the life of Shawn Moss by giving away back-to-school items and free gun locks.

    Full Story

Make a donation.

Your donation to the Shawn Moss Wellness and Growth Foundation is a powerful way to create a safer, stronger, and more resilient community. Founded in memory of Shawn Moss, who was tragically taken by gun violence, our foundation is dedicated to reducing this violence, through advocacy and community support. As a 501(c)(3) organization, your donation is tax-deductible and crucial in building a brighter, safer future. Join us in this vital mission—donate today and make a lasting impact.