GUNS TO GARDENS EVENT - Saturday October 17, 2026

GOAL:         To end gun violence and create a safer, more peaceful community. 

LOCATION:        Messiah Lutheran Church

                5202 Cottage Grove Rd

                Madison WI 53716

WHEN:        Saturday, October 17, 2026

9:00 am to 12:00 pm

What to expect:

• Arrival: Use Cottage Grove Road Entrance OR enter from behind the church off Kingsbridge Rd. Drive your vehicle to the event location and be welcomed by our trained volunteers. Please arrive with your firearm(s) unloaded and safely stored in the trunk or rear of your car. 
• Firearm Collection: Donors remain in their vehicles while trained volunteers remove the guns for safe disposal. 
• Dismantling: Skilled personnel use chop saws to dismantle the guns into pieces, following ATF guidelines to ensure they are no longer legally firearms. Donors stay to witness this process as there is no transfer of ownership of any weapons. 
• Donation: Donors are offered gift cards and have the option to donate the dismantled gun parts for the “Guns to Garden” project. We are offering gift cards for gas and/or groceries at local businesses in the amounts of $100, $150, $200 depending on the type of gun.
• Forging: The salvaged gun parts are then heated in a forge and hammered into functional garden tools like trowels and small pickaxes. The forging demonstration will take place from 12:00-12:45 pm. Anyone is welcome to view this demonstration.  
• Symbolism: The process is inspired by the biblical passage from Isaiah, which speaks of beating swords into plowshares and transforming instruments of violence into tools of growth and sustenance.

For more information, or to make a donation please contact Jeff Wild at jtwildwi@gmail.com