NaJia Foundation scholarship dance, dinner honors slain girl's memory with advocacy

ELYRIA — Saturday's third-annual scholarship dance for the NaJia Diara Rayal Foundation brought community members together to honor the memory of an Elyria girl who died by gun violence. The foundation is committed to ending that gun violence, encouraging gun safety and helping youth. It honors the memory of NaJia Boone, an 8-year-old girl who was shot and killed by accident in 2009. Gun safety and gun violence awareness have been her grandmother Rhonda Washington's focus since then. The event on Saturday featured dinner, dancing and a drawing for a $500 scholarship, with nominations sought from the crowd for deserving college-bound students. The foundation calls for young people to get off the couch, get off their cellphones, read books, visit and talk to the elderly and support minority businesses. Held at the Elyria YWCA, Saturday's event featured guest speaker Imam Paul Hasan of Interfaith Ministries Lorain. He said Washington and the foundation are doing what needs to be done in the community, and he and thanked her for her resilience. The loss of her granddaughter was "very, very grave" but she kept fighting, Hasan said. "Her passion is against gun violence in the community ... she has a bigger aspiration, a bigger vision." Hasan said the questions he asks include "How can we stop the carnage of gun violence in our community?" and "Where are the guns coming from?" "Why are young black girls dying all over from gun violence?" he asked. "We have to get guns out of (the hands of youth) if we want real peace in our streets." Hasan said he hopes he and Washington, with her "moral courage," can organize a march, a mass rally against gun violence before next year's event. NaJia's name is like the Arabic word for "precious" or "successful" and Hasan asked the crowd not to forget her. "She still is precious to us," he said. "She lives on in us." Other ventures by the foundation have included gun lock giveaways and helping to outfit local college-bound high school seniors who have good grades for their prom, as NaJia always loved fashion. Washington said she hopes to provide education and resources for middle school-age children in the future, and has encouraged the community to support those reentering society from prison. The Lorain Police Department provided free gun locks for the event, which people in the crowd were invited to take for their own use or to give to those they know who have guns and want to keep them out of the hands of children. She thanked the crowd for coming out "and celebrating my granddaughter's life," and said she will continue to fight to change things because "we are in a fight, whether we know it or not." "God's gonna take care," Washington told the gathering. "I just need a couple good people. Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com. Follow him at @daveobrienCT on Twitter.