Aiding the healing
H-E-B donates $500,000 to Uvalde families affected by school massacre
San Antonio-based grocery chain H-E-B is donating $500,000 to help Uvalde recover from this week’s Robb Elementary School massacre.
H-E-B announced the contribution Wednesday, May 25, a day after an 18-year-old gunman shot and killed 19 children and two adults at Robb Elementary.
Beyond that, shoppers at H-E-B, Central Market, Joe’s V Smart Shop, and Mi Tienda locations can make donations of $1, $3, $5, $50, or $100 at store registers or when placing curbside or home delivery orders. People also can give via the H-E-B-owned Favor app or online at heb.com/donate.
H-E-B says all of the money collected will benefit families of students at Robb Elementary. The cash will go into the Spirit of Giving Fund, a nonprofit that H-E-B created after Hurricane Harvey and the Sutherland Springs church massacre.
On top of the monetary help, H-E-B’s mobile kitchens will provide meals, supplies, and other resources to community support centers, first responders, and Uvalde CISD, and will collaborate with nonprofit organizations that are helping local residents. Furthermore, H-E-B is making crisis counselors available to people in the community.
“Our hearts go out to all the families during this tragic and painful time,” Winell Herron, H‑E‑B’s group vice president of public affairs, diversity, and environmental affairs, says in a news release.
“Our neighbors in Uvalde, including many of our H-E-B Partners, have connections to someone touched by this tragedy. We grieve alongside them as they face unimaginable loss. It is our hope that H‑E‑B’s support, along with our loyal customers’ donations, will help during this difficult situation.”
H-E-B’s store in Uvalde, at 201 E. Main St., is one mile from Robb Elementary. Uvalde is almost 85 miles southwest of San Antonio and roughly 60 miles northeast of the U.S. border with Mexico.
About 12 hours after the shooting rampage, Austin actor and Uvalde native Matthew McConaughey took to Twitter to urge action aimed at curbing the gun violence “epidemic” in the U.S.
“Once again, we have tragically proven that we are failing to be responsible for the rights our freedoms grant us,” McConaughey wrote.
“The true call to action now is for every American to take a longer and deeper look in the mirror and ask ourselves, ‘What is it that we truly value? How do we repair the problem? What small sacrifices can we individually take today, to preserve a healthier and safer nation, state, and neighborhood tomorrow?’ We cannot exhale once again, make excuses, and accept these tragic realities as the status quo.”
