Fundraiser aims to send Uvalde survivors to Disney on anniversary of shooting

A fundraiser has been set up to help the Uvalde survivors spend the one-year anniversary of the shooting at Disneyland—and anyone can donate. The mother of one of the shooting survivors, Abigale Veloz, mom of Miah Cerillo, organized the fundraiser on GoFundMe to help with travel and accommodation costs.

“We are the parents of the survivors of room 112, our kids have been through so much this last year,” the summary reads on the site. “They continue to fight for their recovery everyone knows May 24 is coming and they aren’t looking forward for the one-year mark.”

Related: Robb Elementary School will be torn down, according to Uvalde mayor

During the shooting at the Uvalde, Texas elementary school, 21 people were killed—including several of the surviving children’s classmates and their two teachers, Eva Mireles and Irma Garcia. The survivors waited inside Classroom 112 for 77 minutes for police to breach the door after the deadly mass shooting began, according to News 4 San Antonio. On May 24, 2022, 19 children and two teachers were shot to death by an 18-year-old former Robb Elementary student.

Recently, two 11-year-old survivors—Cereillo and Khloie Torres—were honored with the Kid Hero Award at the 2023 Texas Public Safety Conference in Galveston, Texas. The event is set up by the Texas chapters of the National Emergency Number Association (NENA) and The Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO).

The two girls called 911 during the shooting. Parts of the 911 audio were broadcast by ABC News in February with permission from the girls’ parents. In the audio, Torres urges the 911 operator to send police into the classroom.

“Please hurry, there’s a lot of dead bodies,” Torres said in the 911 call. “Please, I’m going to die.”

Heartbreaking and traumatic don’t begin to touch the surface of what these children endured.

Abigale Veloz, Cerrillo’s mother, said she felt emotional about the recognition her daughter received.

“As Miah’s mother, I feel very proud, she’s a strong person, awesome daughter and a wonderful sister,” Veloz said. “She will forever be my miracle baby. She has fought for her life her whole life since she was born, and she will continue. The good thing is that she does not fight alone, she has her whole family to fight with her and protect her.”

Related: The Texas school shooting is a harsh reminder of the cruel world we are raising our children in

The GoFundMe was created on April 10, 2023—so there is plenty of time to donate whatever you can so these children can escape the brutal reminder of the worst day of their lives by having some much-deserved fun.

“Our kids came up with a plan to take a trip to get out of Uvalde,” Veloz wrote on the site. “They have goals to reach to make it to Disneyland. If you would like to help them we would appreciate it. Anything helps.”