An antiviolence group created by the mothers of murder victims called for more community support ahead of its annual motorcade on Saturday.

Mothers On A Mission will hold its island-wide drive to draw attention to the lifelong impact the loss of a loved one has on the families affected.

Nicole Fox, a member of MOM Bermuda, said the event was an opportunity for the public to show the mothers of murder victims that “we don’t have to go though this alone”.

She said: “We are a community but sometimes we feel like we’ve been left to deal with our pain on our own. There’s nothing like support.

“We just want the community to stand with us, just for this one day for a couple of hours and help out so that we don’t have to go through this alone.

“We do it every day but this one day we’re just asking for a little bit more support, a bit more understanding, a bit more empathy to say ‘we see you and we feel you’.”

Ms Fox lost her 25-year-old son, Ricco Furbert, in a double murder at Belvin’s Variety Store on Happy Valley Road in Pembroke in 2013.

Her stepson, Clark Fox, was killed in a daylight shooting in March 2020.

Ms Fox said that the motorcade this year, the group’s seventh, would be attended by Kim Wilkerson, the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, as well as Dave Morgan, the Deputy Governor.

People do not have to register to take part, so she was unable to say how many were expected to turn out.

But Ms Fox reminded those who have lost a loved one to violence that “they are not alone” regardless of whether or not they join the motorcade.

She said: “MOM Bermuda is a support group and we will stand in the gap and support you until you are ready to stand in the gap and support yourself on your own.”

Ms Fox reminded the public that support from others, whether they were strangers or friends, was crucial for those dealing with grief.

She said: “When it happens to you, you feel like you’re still alone, like nobody really does understand, even though you’ve got other families that have been through it.

“Every death, every situation, every circumstance is different, even though the end result is the same.”

Ms Fox added: “We feel alone as it is, so if you could offer your support for just a couple of hours, that means a lot.”

Motorists were asked to join the group at CedarBridge Academy in Devonshire at 9am.

The motorcade will start at 10am and travel to Dockyard via South Road before taking a break, heading to St George’s along North Shore Road and back to Hamilton via Middle Road.