On May 24, 2022, another 18-year-old man wielding an automatic weapon this time entered Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, and murdered 19 small children and 2 teachers. It breaks our heart to type yet again another account of mass murder in our country when just over a week ago we all felt the pain of the massacre taking 10 black patrons at Tops grocery store in Buffalo, New York.
These two teachers and nineteen children are beloved and their families and communities are devastated by their precious loss of life. These little girls and boys had dreams of a life ahead of them. School should be a place of safety for children to learn and grow and not (never) terror.
“I can’t put into words how this breaks my heart, as a mother, as a sister, as a community member to hear of the tragic loss of such precious young lives. No matter how often you hear about these incidences they continue to hurt over and over again. I find myself saying “not again..” with defeat and despair that this keeps happening in this country in schools, in grocery stores, in churches and synagogues, in movie theatres, in nightclubs, at concerts.. This is not good enough, not for me and certainly not for our children.”
Heather DeVine, PSL Founder/Executive Director
The Founding of People Spread Love was in Response to a Mass Shooting in the US
People Spread Love was founded in 2015 in response to the mass shooting killing nine black churchgoers in Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church during their bible study in Charleston, South Carolina. The gunman was also a white supremist and motivated to kill black people. After hearing of the shooting there was an immediate wave of helplessness sinking feeling in our Founder but then a heart-centered action to do something. Read more about how People Spread Love all began here.
Our motivation to begin this work was and remains centered around love and empathy for the pain and suffering of our community across the country.
Our children embody LOVE.
To see that light get snuffed out at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas shatters our hearts. As a nationwide community, we can sit in grief together with empathy. When we say “I can’t imagine your pain” – we actually can and it is a shared hurt. We share in the agony with you and want and strive for a more loving and compassionate world most especially for our children.
If you want to write a “note of love” to Robb Elementary School to pour into these grieving families we invite you to do so. We can help guide you if you’ve never done this before. You can never send love and compassion in this way incorrectly.
The unfolding of this mass shooting is breaking hearts all over again. Investigations are taking place and we hope the families of these 21 victims find some semblance of peace and a path forward.
People Spread Love stands with Uvalde, Texas. This continual pattern of motivation for senseless gun violence will simply not win or conquer the love embodied in communities all across this country.
People Spread Love stands up against domestic terrorism and gun violence. These acts of violence are hateful and wrong and have no place in our country and no place anywhere.
Gun violence on this scale happens nowhere else in the world as it does in the US. Contact your state representative and make it known that you need gun laws tightened so we can help prevent these massacres from happening again and again.
Continually stay in your heart and LOVE, not hate.
Please send us ideas on ways to help the families or the victim’s families by emailing us at hello@peoplespreadlove.com and we will be sure to share it here and on our social media platforms.