For 23 years, he's delivered crosses after massacres. This was his hardest week yet

[mfcorey1]

Dayton, Ohio (CNN) — When Greg Zanis travels to the sites of mass shootings, he brings a handmade cross for each victim, but he also carries a few extra to hand out as gifts.

Not this time.

“They were trying to buy them from me in El Paso, but I need them here,” the Crosses for Losses founder said as he turned his full-size Nissan pickup, its bed packed with nine crosses, onto Fifth Street in Dayton.

This marked the first time Zanis had to drive from one shooting location directly to another. After a gunman killed 22 people at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, and another shooter took nine more lives several hours later in Dayton, Zanis began a journey of roughly 3,500 miles.

CNN joined the 68-year-old Wednesday near the Indiana border on the last leg of his trip. He’d already driven 1,500 miles from his home in Aurora, Illinois, to El Paso, then another 1,600 miles to Dayton, despite collapsing Monday in South Texas’ 101-degree heat.

https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2019/08/us/memorial-crosses-dayton-cnnphotos/index.html

[mopinko]

1. aurora is my hometown.

dude is a friend of my niece.
bet he never thought this would get to be such a big gig.

[marybourg]

2. I guess he didn't bring them to the

synagogue shooting site in Pittsburgh.

[Journeyman]

3. Or Sandy Hook . . .

[madaboutharry]

4. The article at the link says he brings appropriate symbols;

Crosses, Stars of David, Crescent Moons, symbols for Buddhists, and for Atheists.

[barbtries]

5. that's good to know.

i had the same thought. a cross would not be appropriate for me or my children.

[Demovictory9]

6. whew... what a drive!