SANTA FE, Texas — Throughout the Houston area, donations are being collected for Santa Fe High School students.
These donations – mostly gift cards and candy -- will be put into bags and distributed to students tomorrow night at a free community dinner, at the Gulf Greyhound Park in La Marque. The dinner is closed to the press.
The theme of the dinner is “Strengthening Our Students.”
In Santa Fe today, the store, J Knox Designs, is serving as one of several collection sites. People have donated chocolates, and Fruit Roll-Ups, as well as gift cards to John Daniels and Sonic.
Store owner John Daniels says, “Anything a teenager likes -- candy, small gift cards for fast food restaurants, movie theaters.”
Pamela Martin is a teacher, from Pearland, who fought back tears while thinking of the tragedy. She donated Starbucks gift cards.
“I can’t imagine losing my students. I remember when I was a substitute and the first time we did a lockdown drill, and it was terrifying, and that was pretend,” Martin told KHOU.
Daniels describes Santa Fe as “a small, close-knit community. Blue collar town. A lot of school spirit.” It’s a community where people want to help their neighbors.
“It’s just tragic and we feel like we can’t do enough. We don’t know what to do. In a situation like this, you want to be helpful, you want to be supportive,” says Cindy Trahan, a local resident.
In nearby League City, boxes of food from local businesses and stuffed animals from local charities, are pouring into Butler’s Courtyard. All of the items collected will go to Santa Fe High School students at their community dinner tomorrow night at 6pm.
Venue owner Amber Murphy, told KHOU, “These kids need to see that the community is behind them and businesses are behind them, and other parents are behind them, and they can walk through those halls the rest of the year, not afraid and feeling loved.”
Mikayla Hughes, 9, donated a few items with her mom and younger brother.
“I know this is a very sad time and we just want to make them happy. My brother brought Skittles and a $5 gift card to Wal-Mart. I brought Starburst,” Hughes said.
There are many ways you can help the survivors and victim's families.
Galveston County has set up a Santa Fe Strong Memorial Fund for those impacted. Monetary donations will go towards funeral costs, medical bills and to assist Santa Fe ISD in future needs that may arise from the crisis.
You can also donate blood to the Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center.
This past weekend, there was tons of support from the community and surrounding areas that the mobile drives and Neighborhood Donor Centers had to send several people away. The average wait time to donate was between two and three hours.
"We appreciate and are thankful to everyone that came out during this tragic time to donate in any way they could. However, the need for blood is constant, not just in times of tragedy. We have blood drives all year round to ensure we have an adequate supply on the shelves for all emergency situations. If you were unable to donate during the weekend, we encourage you to schedule an appointment during the week," said officials with the GCRBC.
If you need assistance during this tragic time, you can call the Santa Fe ISD Crisis Support Hotline at 1-800-595-0869.