Looking to help those directly affected by the Uvalde school shootings, two new emergency funds have been set up, with one seeking to direct financial assistance, and the other to support non-profits looking to provide long term support to the community. For both funds, management will be handled by the San Antonio Area Foundation.
Says Joe Gonzales, Bexar County District Attorney, of the need for this support, “It will be hard for the parents to go to work experiencing this tragedy. It will be hard for them to sleep. Their grief will remain with them long after the news cameras leave.”
Additional funds to support survivors and the community have also been set up by The United Way of San Antonio and Bexar County, the League of United Latin American Citizens, and the First State Bank of Uvalde.
Plans to assist families in Uvalde are still being developed, with counsellors from the Children’s Bereavement Center of South Texas being engaged. Says Maria Sokol, executive director of the center, of the effect on those involved, “Every child that was there, it’s not just grief, it’s trauma. Many children, after an episode like this, have to work through the trauma. The physical and emotional reactions to the sounds and those awful experiences they had with sirens and helicopters. … Lives change overnight, and that’s what happened.”
