It’s been a tumultuous couple of weeks for the anti-violence group known as Mothers/Men Against Senseless Killings or, more simply, as MASK.
But the group remains committed to their efforts in bettering their community with the grand opening Wednesday of their restaurant, Peace of Pizza, 1801 W. 95th St.
“I was in line at Lowe’s around 6 a.m., as soon as they opened, getting materials for the final touches on the restaurant,” said MASK founder Tamar Manasseh.
“If I’m being honest, though, I haven’t been able to sleep at all with everything that has been going on.”
Festivities start at 5 p.m. Wednesday, with a ribbon-cutting attended by local Ald. Matt O’Shea (19th).
Excitement over the soft opening of the restaurant — some of the profits will go to support MASK — turned into dismay when Metra construction shut down their street, forcing them to close the restaurant for almost 10 days.
Manasseh said the business lost over $13,000 after the street was closed. Shortly after, Manasseh said, the restaurant’s freezer went bad, pushing the organization another $2,000 in the hole.
Then on Friday, two mothers that helped MASK in its efforts to curb gun-violence were fatally wounded in a drive-by shooting.
It happened in Gresham, at 75th Street and Stewart Avenue, on the same corner where the organization is based.
“I don’t know if I am even coping properly,” Manasseh said. “There is still just so much going on.”
Police are continuing to investigate, and have some promising leads, but no one was in custody as of early Wednesday afternoon, said Chicago Police Department spokesman Anthony Guglielmi.
A police POD camera on the corner where the women were killed was not working during the time of the shooting, but footage from private cameras along the vehicle’s path of travel produced those strong leads, Guglielmi said.
MASK has also raised over $17,000 through a GoFundMe campaign; the money will be offered as a reward to anyone who has information about the shooting that brings the killers to justice.
