Meet an Annunciation family helping move the community toward healing after tragedy
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On the morning of Aug. 27, Kristen Neville and Michael Burt were in their car in their driveway with their five kids, who were sobbing. They had just gotten home after the most terrifying day of their lives, surviving the mass shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church and School. Two children, Fletcher Merkel, 8, and Harper Moyski, 10, died. Twenty-eight other people were injured.
The mother and father of a blended family of seven, wondered “what now?”
Burt and Neville’s first thought was to open their home. A few text message blasts later, and parents gathered in their kitchen while kids were in the yard. In total, anywhere from 50-100 people from the Annunciation community were at their home just hours after the tragedy.
Burt called a nearby restaurant asking them to make “food for as many people as you can make food for” and called Hennepin County asking for counselors to come to their house, which had now become somewhat of a triage center.
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“Kristen and I are doers,” Burt said. It’s one of the qualities that made him fall in love with Neville five years ago at an Annunciation event. And on Monday, Burt proposed to Neville.
The pair have long been involved in the Annunciation community. Burt is on the church’s finance council. Together, the couple are in their third year as co-chairs of one of the school’s biggest fundraisers of the year. But now, the partners in life were becoming partners in healing, for their family and for their community.
‘This is a long game’
Since the tragedy, Annunciation parents have been quick to mobilize. Neville said it started with conversations she had with other parents who felt like they needed to do something.
“It started to get really big, really fast,” said Neville. So, she began to do what she knew how to do best: organize. Now, more than 150 parents are part of an alliance that Neville co-leads.
The coalition of parents meet regularly at what they call their “sanctuary,” Red Wagon Pizza Company in south Minneapolis. They talk about how to have hard conversations over the holidays and have met with parents from Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn., where 20 children and six adults were killed in 2012. Neville’s biggest takeaway from Sandy Hook parents: “This is a long game.”
“What we were about to take on was not something that was going to come from the results of a special session, it wasn't something that was going to come from a February session,” Neville said. “It’s something that is going to be a lifelong amount of work.”
Neville has already started the work. Earlier this month, she spoke at a press conference held by Gov. Tim Walz, who was signing two executive orders related to gun violence. But the alliance’s focus isn’t just on the Capitol, it’s about using their voices to create space for conversations about gun violence, no matter where someone falls on the political spectrum.
Neville reflected on her family’s own Christmas Eve conversation with people on different political sides.
“And what I appreciated was people asking questions and being open minded, and then you could see little pieces start to kind of tweak as they started thinking about it from their perspective.”
Neville has come to terms that these types of conversations will indeed be her life’s work.
“To be able to, at some point in time, look my kids in the eyes and hopefully be able to say to them that they can be safe again, is something that I will work towards for the rest of my life.”
‘A guiding light’
For Burt, a self-described serial entrepreneur, in the days and weeks after the tragedy, he immediately began thinking of the future and how the Annunciation community would sustain itself in all facets.
“We’re going to make this a defining moment that’s going to make us stronger, and we need to come up with a business plan, a community plan, a human plan, to get us there,” he said.
He was surprised to learn that the federal government would be part of that. Burt got an email from the Department of Justice Office of Victims of Crimes a week after the shooting. The agency flew in from Washington, D.C. to help provide resources.
It’s part of the Antiterrorism and Emergency Assistance Program, to which Congress allocates funds every year to support victims of terrorism or mass violence. One of their main tools is creating an internal and external “Resilience Center” for communities.
The external center is a physical space for the community. It was up and running starting in mid-November. It operates out of Washburn Library, with hours once a week, and has a director from the Minnesota Department of Public Safety. It’s currently a temporary space until a long-term center can be established. For Sandy Hook, their community’s Resilience Center operated for ten years.
Burt works on a committee of people working on an internal Resilience Center. The committee includes school and church leadership, parents, alumni and teachers. The group addresses the unique needs, challenges and priorities of the internal community, both short-term and long-term.
“Decisions are going to be tough, conversations are going to be tough, and yet just holding everybody together so there's no fragmentation,” he said.
Burt hopes the work he does can be a model for the next community impacted by mass violence. “We can then be a guiding light for the next group as they try to fight through this and try to survive.”
Creating moments of joy
As Neville and Burt embody the school’s new mantra of “when you pray, move your feet,” they are building moments of joy for the community too. They’ll be moving their feet in a different way, as co-chairs of one of the school’s biggest fundraisers of the year “Dancing with Annunciation Stars” in February.
The line-up is special this year. Tom Forchas is dancing. He’s the father of Sophia — an Annunciation student who made a miraculous recovery. Minneapolis police Lt. Ryan Kelly, who was the first in the church after the shooting, will also take the dance floor. In total, six Annunciation community members are paired with professional dancers, culminating in a performance for the students and later for the fundraiser.
At first, Neville wasn’t sure if the fundraiser would happen this year. But tickets ended up selling out in under five minutes, and they’re moving the event to a bigger venue.
“We’re constantly reminded to bring joy to the forefront,” said Burt. “That is ultimately the best way to heal.”
Use the audio player above to listen to an extended conversation that Minnesota Now host Nina Moini had with Kristen Neville and Michael Burt.
