‘McDonald’s with Mekhi’ free Completely satisfied Meals occasion on West Aspect honors 3-year-old boy Mekhi James killed in 2020 Chicago taking pictures

CHICAGO (WLS) — Free McDonald’s Completely satisfied Meals have been handed out Sunday on town’s West Aspect in remembrance of a younger sufferer of gun violence.

Household of mates of Mekhi James unfold pleasure in a small bundle to honor a life and pleasure taken from them.

“Mehki simply not one other identify. He isn’t simply one other hashtag,” member of the family Nicole McGee mentioned. “He was our cousin. He was anyone.”

Three-year-old Mehki was on his means house to take pleasure in a McDonald’s Completely satisfied Meal when he was shot and killed whereas buckled into the automobile seat of his father’s car on June twentieth, 2020.

“It stole a really harmless second that youngsters ought to be capable to take pleasure in, and since a bullet took that, we’re taking it again,” McGee mentioned.

Since his demise, his cousin McGee has made it her mission to recollect Mekhi and different youngsters who have been impacted by gun violence by internet hosting “McDonalds with Mekhi.”

Volunteers handed out free Completely satisfied Meals in North Lawndale to all youngsters who stopped by the McDonald’s restaurant.

It’s the foundation’s fourth yr internet hosting the occasion.

“This isn’t only for Mekhi, however it’s for all children who’re victims,” McGee mentioned. “A Completely satisfied Meal is small. It is beloved, it is harmless. Every of those children have been small, they have been all beloved they usually have been all harmless. So we’re simply sharing what he ought to have had with everybody who ought to have it.”

They handed out a whole bunch of free Completely satisfied Meals as of Sunday afternoon.

Lots of the volunteers on the occasion have been impacted by gun violence in their very own methods, together with Shawnta Williams. Her daughter spent two months within the hospital and survived a number of surgical procedures.

“So we obtained to attend occasions like this to be able to maintain consciousness on the market, to be able to maintain their tales alive,” Williams mentioned. “So I can solely think about what the dad and mom of youngsters who did not survive are going via, so it’s extremely touching.”

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“It looks as if it is by no means ending, and for me all of us have to search out the place our strengths lie, mine doesn’t lie in chasing killers. My energy lies in children,” McGee mentioned. “I am a childcare supplier. I’ve at all times handled children. I need to see the children. I need present for them one thing to make them really feel good, encourage them. That is their time, that is their area. That is occurring to them.”

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