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1 Very Serious Problem, 2 Amazing Missions: 'It's All About Lifting People Up' After US Tragedies

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With America seemingly rocked by a steady stream of violence, two ordinary men are on two not-so-ordinary missions, looking to combat tragedies in their own unique ways.  

Crosses for Losses: Showing Love to One Another

As the country tries to make sense of last weekend's mass shootings, one man is on a mission to make sure the victims are remembered. Greg Zanis is doing that by setting up crosses with the names of each victim.

This week, Greg Zanis traveled to El Paso and then to Dayton to set up crosses for the nine killed there. 

"If you are a victim in a mass shooting, immediately you are one of nine. Understand today, I'm making these 9 people a family together," he said. "I'm also making the city a family here. And the way I'm doing it, it really brings the country together."
 
Greg has been traveling the country, setting up crosses for victims since the late nineties. Since then he has made more than 21,000 crosses in an effort to bring healing and hope. 

When asked why he travels around, doing what he does, Greg simply says, "We need to show that we love one another."

The Honor Network: Simple Acts of Kindness

Since 2017, one group has focused on honoring victims of mass shootings by performing acts of kindness.

The Honor Network encourages people to pay it forward in hopes that simple signs of kindness make a difference, while honoring those whose lives have been cut short.

CBN News spoke with Honor Network founder Tommy Maher about what he hopes to accomplish.
 
He says, "We try to spread kindness around in honor of the victims, it's kind of like coming into the town and giving the whole town a big hug."

"It's all about lifting people up, anywhere from going to a coffee shop and leaving money at the register for everyone behind us to this last stop at Virginia Beach, we bought passes for 12 people to go to a water park."

"The message is just telling people, 'Don't wait for the tragedy, you know, to be nice to each other.' Two of the greatest most powerful acts of kindness are understanding and forgiveness and we can do that without having to buy anybody anything," he says.

Maher is a Long Island firefighter who helped in the recovery efforts at Ground Zero after 9-11. He said seeing people from all over the world coming to help the people of New York was the inspiration of his idea for the Honor Network.

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