By These senseless shootings are happening far too often, Nancy Kevorkian thought as her heart broke listening to the details of yet another gun violence tragedy on the news in 2019. How are we supposed to just keep carrying on like nothing happened?
In fact, moments of national mourning had been so frequent that the American flag on Nancy’s front lawn had been flying at half-staff more often than not. While she wanted to honor victims of violence, she also didn’t want to erode the significance of lowering the flag.
What we need is a symbol that people can rally around to show how much we care, she mused.
As a designer, Nancy did some soul-searching and decided to spread hope the best way she knew how: with art.
Nancy’s vision was to create a flag that would fly in tandem with the American flag to express respect and remembrance for victims of violence.
This has to be special, she thought, taking her time with the creative process.
As she brainstormed, she started out with a pencil sketch on scrap paper. To represent sorrow and trauma, she chose a black backdrop with a red stripe on the right side of the flag. In the center, Nancy designed a solid green circle with an illuminated bird silhouette.
Finally, she added a circle of 10 stars symbolic of various meanings: personal reflection, grief, honor for victims, courage, strength, support, healing, growth, calm and peace.
Nancy then brought her design to life, sewing together her very first flag with scrap T-shirt material.
“I’m going to call it the Recovery Flag,” Nancy shared with her partner, Terry. “What do you think?”
“When I look at it, I see hope,” he replied, his heart swelling with pride.
Nancy knew it was time to share with her neighbors. Hope is exactly what her community needed. She found a manufacturer to create the flags with durable material so it could be flown outdoors. She then began proudly offering the flags to anyone in her community for free, emphasizing that they’re dedicated to peace with no affiliation to any political party or religion.
While Nancy didn’t expect much to come from it, she was floored by the interest in her Recovery Flag. Not only did her neighbors want their own flag but they also began sharing their own stories and how the flag resonated with them. Many asked if the flag could be used to represent recovery from other struggles in addition to gun violence—from a serious illness to addiction.
I didn’t even realize just how much others were looking for a symbol to rally around, Nancy thought. I’m so happy this flag can represent recovery, no matter what someone is going through.
To make the flags available to anyone else in the United States (at a small cost to cover shipping), Nancy created a website (ImRecovering.com).
“Giving back is my passion, but I don’t view this as charity. I just like to use my creativity to help others,” she says. “I want victims to know they’re in our hearts!”
