PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – Mothers in Charge is marking its 8th anniversary of helping those who have lost children to violence.

Almost a decade ago, Dorothy Johnson Speight’s son was killed by a gunshot during an argument over a parking space in front of his own home.  In the years since, she has formed a network of support for mothers and others who have lost loved ones to violence. Speight founded Mothers In Charge in 2003.

She says the focus of the organization has not changed in 8 years, but its outreach has, “Working in the schools with students around conflict resolution and anger management, teaching alternatives to violence, and we’re even in the prison now, working with juveniles who’ve made bad choices and bad decisions.”

Johnson Speight says the best that could happen to Mothers in Charge is for it to go out of business.  Meanwhile, The Villanova University student-produced documentary No Greater Pain – which profiles Mothers in Charge – will be screened at an anniversary event tonight on Penn’s Landing.

Reported by Karin Phillips, KYW Newsradio 1060