Total Strangers Reach Out To Help Ease The Pain

They are donating to families of victims of the Texas shooting

A GoFundMe page can raise millions

It was a double tragedy for the family of one of the school teachers who was killed in the Texas school shooting. After her husband attended a tribute gathering to honor the victims to which he took flowers, he collapsed and died from a heart attack. The children in that family lost not only their mother at the hands of the shooter but also their father. It was a real tragedy.

The teacher had been trying to save children in the classroom, but she was shot. Two days later her husband was also gone. Family members said he had died of a broken heart.

The Washington Post ran an article titled “Both their parents died in Uvalde. Now donors are raising millions.”

One moment Irma Garcia was trying to shield young children from gunfire at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Tex. The next, the 48-year-old teacher had been killed in the deadliest school shooting in the state’s history.

Two days later, her husband, Joe Garcia, suffered a fatal heart attack — moments after returning home from a trip to a memorial set up for the victims. He had taken flowers to honor his wife, another schoolteacher and 19 students who lost their lives.

The breadwinners in the family were gone. They left behind four children: Cristian, 23; Jose, 19; Lyliana, 15; and Alysandra, 12.

A GoFundMe page was set up to help the children in this time of need. Within a matter of days, more than 44,000 donors had raised more than $2.5 million to help support them.

“Their family was an all-American family,” John Martinez said about his aunt, uncle and cousins. “They’re great people. The entire family, they’re all great people. They don’t deserve this.”

Another cousin set up the GoFundMe page. After her comments about the couple, she wrote: “Please keep our family in your thoughts and prayers.”

The top donation was more than $500,000 which had been brought over from another GoFundMe account which had been created by Martinez. The page was promoted on social media by Bill Pulte, a philanthropist and CEO of the investment firm, Pulte Capital. Several high dollar donations were received.

Martinez made the following statement: “Please know, and let people know on behalf of the family, I’m more than grateful and elated at the overwhelming love and support, whether it be the kind words, the donations or even just spreading the word, it means a lot to us.”

Other GoFundMe pages have been created for the other schoolteacher who died and other victims along with some survivors who are expected to need medical care for the trauma they suffered.

There are a lot of good people in the world who are willing to help total strangers in their time of need. GoFundMe and other such programs have done amazing work in providing these services.

[Note: Nick Anderson, Moriah Balingit, Marissa J. Lang and Ian Shapira contributed to the Washington Post report.]

Thank you for reading.

Not a Medium member? You can join Medium with my referral link. It’s $5 a month for access to all the stories on Medium. Open the link below to join. https://floydforest.medium.com/membership