Children's Bereavement Center of South Texas launches $2.4M campaign to open a center in Uvalde in wake of mass shooting

The San Antonio-based Children’s Bereavement Center of South Texas announced June 2 the launch of a $2.4 million fundraising campaign to open a center in Uvalde in the wake of the mass shooting on May 24 at Robb Elementary School that left 19 students and two teachers dead.

The Bereavement Center responded within hours to the recent tragedy to provide counseling and support services. Specially trained grief and trauma counselors have remained in the small community ever since, operating out of a temporary space with plans to open a more permanent center in the next 45 days, according to a press release.

“Grief is not a linear process,” CBCST Executive Director Marian Sokol said in the release. “The Uvalde community and surviving families will go through many stages over an extended period of time—most likely years. We will be here for them for as long as it takes.”

Fundraising for a center in Uvalde has already begun, and several San Antonio businesses and individuals have donated, according to the release. Anyone can donate online at https://give.cbcst.org/uvalde.

Services offered by the Children’s Bereavement Center are free. The $2.4 million five-year operating budget would include real estate, staff salaries and training for a center in Uvalde, according to the release.

The center would be modeled after the flagship center in San Antonio, offering counseling, grief camps and peer support groups for children, parents and caregivers, the release stated.

Free grief support programs from children, families and community members would be one part of a two-pronged approach. The second element would be grief and trauma training for Uvalde school teachers and counselors in Uvalde CISD, according to the release.

“The Uvalde Center is intended to be a very calm, welcoming space for anyone in the community who feels they need help,” Sokol said. “Grief takes time, and our intent is not to rush anyone through that process. We just want those in Uvalde to know that we are there if and when they need us.”