Strangers nationwide flooding Ulvalde with offerings of support
The archbishop of San Antonio, Gustavo Garcia-Siller, comforts families outside of the Civic Center in Uvalde, Texas Tuesday, May 24, 2022. (AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills)
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(NewsNation) — People throughout the country are flooding Uvalde, Texas, with offerings of support in the wake of a shooting Tuesday that killed 19 schoolchildren and two teachers.
Hill Country Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Center, a local mental health provider, has received an outpouring of support to help funnel additional trauma counselors to triage and heal Uvalde’s families and children.
“It’s just been incredible to see the response from all the communities in Texas come together,” said center spokesperson Kelsi Bigott. “We’re definitely Texas strong and Uvalde strong.”
Five days’ worth of snack kits were donated for local children, and the Uvalde County Office of Emergency Management said workers have received hundreds of calls from people wanting to help in some way.
The support and resources have been a bright spot in an otherwise dismal week. Out-of-town trauma-response teams and child behavioral therapists are settling temporarily in Uvalde, and professionals of all kinds are working to deconstruct barriers to support basic needs.
“We are truly grateful and humbled by everyone’s outpouring of support and willingness to help during these difficult times,” the office posted on Facebook.
A full list of resources available for the Uvalde community and victims, as well as additional resources for coping, is available online.
Bigott encouraged Uvalde community members to communicate their needs.
“It’s always important for people to ask for help as well so we know what we can do from them, because there’s people that are definitely wanting to help and there are organizations that are going above and beyond,” she said.
Hill Country Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Center is the local mental health authority for 19 counties in Texas, and includes a clinic in Uvalde.
Anyone wanting to volunteer locally can call 830-261-5975 ext. 2843. Those in need of support should call 888-690-0799.
“It seems like everybody in Texas is flocking to Uvalde and giving them what they need,” Bigott said. “I feel like any challenges that do arise, they’ll be able to meet them head-on.”
