'Operation Save Our City': Philadelphia anti-violence activist camps out for peace

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Rosalind Pichardo was camping out in the cold weather on Friday, fighting for victims of violence.

For the next three days, the founder of "Operation Save Our City" will call a tent in the Kensington section of Philadelphia home.

"What keeps me fighting through it is knowing that my brother lost his life in January. In the cold, he lay dying on the ground. I was like, 'I have to do something in his honor.' What's more challenging than to be out in the same elements?" said Pichardo.

Her brother's photo is one of the many memorial pictures of victims of violence in Philadelphia now hung outside her makeshift campsite.

This weekend marked the 7th annual Camp Out for Peace. As the founder of Operation Save Our City, Pichardo goes to shooting sites across the city to counsel victimized families.

"It's only the 24th day into January and we have 34 deaths. There's gonna be a lot more new faces (on the memorial wall) maybe even by the end of the week," she said.

No matter how massive the problem, Pichardo made a pledge to keep on.

"I don't have a choice but to stand up. I have to be fierce with it," she says.