(Photo provided by Sammie’s Toy Drive)

I watched with tears in my eyes as I saw Noah Orona, now an eighth grader, laughing along and talking to my volunteers and me. I’ve known Orona for almost four years now. I met him after the Robb Elementary School shooting. Orona had survived along with only 10 of his classmates. Though he survived, he was left with a 12-inch scar on his back from a gunshot. In the span of almost four years, I watched this little boy go from a shy, quiet kid who just had his world turned upside down, to now laughing and telling jokes. In that moment, I did not see Orona as a survivor, but as a fighter.

May 24th, 2022. 11:00am. 

I was 15 years old at the time, and had just finished my freshman year of high school. That day, after finishing my shift at my local library, I planned to try to learn how to ride a bike. Little did I know, everything would change within the hour.

12:00pm. 

My mom yelled to me from her upstairs office to turn on the TV, and that it didn’t matter what channel. Uvalde, Texas. Robb Elementary School. Gunman. At the time, I did not know that this was only the first 27 minutes of the shooting, and that I would be intently watching the news for the 40 minutes to see the fourth grade classroom. Multiple fatalities. As the day went on, I was glued to the TV and my phone, since my friends were sharing Facebook posts from Uvalde families. Many of them went like this:

“Has anyone seen my child? She was wearing ____ and was in the fourth grade hallway. I heard people saw children running to houses from the school.”

That night, the news showed 21 boxes with names below them, and all were empty except for two. Eva Mireles, fourth grade teacher. Amerie Jo Garza, 10 years old. I learned about how Garza heroically called 911 in her classroom before she was killed, and the Junior Girl Scout would be receiving the Bronze Cross at her funeral. Sammie’s Toy Drive was created that night.

Summer, 2022 

I worked through the entirety of June, July and August 2022, as I had planned to head to Uvalde that September. My family’s basement was filled with boxes of donated toys after I appeared on local news stations like KSHB41 and KMBC9 to spread awareness about the toy drive. After tirelessly making connections and planning with community members, everything fell through on my side of planning, and I would not be heading to Uvalde. I was destroyed.

Fall 2022

I never stopped working on the toy drive, and I continued to work with community members to assess what the community needed. Around this time, Uvalde was back in the news. Hallway and bodycam footage from May 24th had been leaked, and we learned that it took police 77 minutes to enter the building. One hour and 17 minutes. The footage replayed on the news for days, and the happy and bright blue and green hallway stood out against the tragedy that was happening in classrooms 111 and 112. Nine, ten and eleven year-old children were left for 77 minutes. Their teachers were armed with only pencils. 

Summer 2023 

I connected with a teenage survivor from the Oxford High School shooting that took place in 2021. Zoe Touray, founder of Survivors Embracing Each Other, had been planning a playday event to take place in Uvalde in July 2023. After talking with her, I decided to send everything to Uvalde and have Touray distribute everything during her event, since I knew I’d never be visiting Uvalde. 20 Sammie’s Toy Drive boxes, ranging between 25-60 pounds, were shipped to Uvalde. By doing this, I knew I’d never get closure. It would end here. July approached, and I impatiently awaited to hear from Touray about how the event went. I never heard anything. Her event never happened. I quickly got in touch with the family that I shipped everything to, the Cazares family, and they still had everything.

“Mom, the event never happened. What do I do?” I asked my mom.

“You prefer flying Southwest, right?” My mom asked.

November 2023 

Father and Son by Cat Stevens played through the rental car speakers as we approached the end of our 70-mile drive from the San Antonio airport. My breath hitched as 21 crosses and teddy bears sat in front of the “Welcome to Uvalde” sign. For a moment, the last year and a half just came to a complete stop as I realized–we made it. Our first stop was the site, Robb Elementary School.

This is a piece I wrote during my first trip to Uvalde.

“The feeling that goes through you when you’re driving through neighborhoods, and suddenly the large group of crosses and a sign that reads Robb Elementary School becomes viewable is a feeling that is almost impossible to put into words, and I don’t know if I’ll be able to find the correct ones. This place looked different from the one I was familiar with, though. There was no longer a large pile of flowers that almost covered the sign, and there were no white arches with flowers that displayed photos of the 21. This place felt abandoned except for the few flowers and plastic bouquet wrappings. The sky was dark and cloudy, it felt as though the school was mourning, and it provided a reminder of the horrors and darkness of that infamous day in May. The slight chill in the air was a stark contrast to what May 24th would’ve felt like for the parents waiting outside the school.

The eerie silence created an uneasy atmosphere around the school as I realized there should’ve been the sounds of old playground equipment squeaking, along with the children squealing and shouting as they played at recess, instead it was replaced by whistling of wind and complete silence. There were no sounds from cars, no barking dogs, no sounds of joyful kids. It felt as though all of the built-up anger and resentment I held for the school and May 24th washed away as I collapsed on my knees and wept in front of the crosses. It was agonizing looking at the funeral home across the street, where barefoot children were running to with glass buried in their feet after escaping through their broken classroom windows. It was agonizing as I remembered that classroom 111 and 112 had just started watching The Addams Family and Lilo and Stitch in their classrooms right before 11:33 a.m. They were children.”

That evening, I was hosting the Sammie’s Toy Drive event at the local Uvalde library. We had therapy dogs, snow cones and a room full of toys for the children to pick from. We had around 100 children attend during the two-hour-long event, and everyone left with gifts. As we were there, I looked up and saw two familiar faces–the Cazares family.

“It’s Jackie,” was all I could say to my mom as I sped over to them. Jackie Cazares was killed at nine years old in classroom 111, just over a week before her 10th birthday.

Gloria and Jazmin, mother and sister to Jackie, handed my mom and me green glow-in-the-dark bracelets with Jackie’s name written on it, and a pin with her picture.

We were only in Uvalde for a total of 20 hours for the first trip. As we left, I looked out of the car window and watched as the large two-story murals of the children were behind us. I accepted that this would be my last time seeing them.

2024 

As a lifelong Girl Scout, I was able to earn my Girl Scout Gold Award for Sammie’s Toy Drive.

My mom and I returned to Uvalde on May 24th, 2024, for the two-year mark vigil of the shooting. The 100-degree weather beat down on us at the cemetery as we visited with families. I handmade 42 bouquets, 21 for the cemetery, 21 for the school. At the cemetery, we sat with many inconsolable mothers as they sat at their child’s grave. Grief is a never-ending cycle of good days and bad days. While visiting Robb with the Cazares family, we learned that someone drove by them and shouted, “Move on, get a life,” as they stood in front of the crosses. Uvalde is a very divided community, and it has been since before the 1970’s. That night at the vigil, the young survivors walked around the amphitheater and lit the candles we held. It was a night of remembering the 21, and being there for the survivors.

In October, we returned for the Second Annual Sammie’s Toy Drive event. This year, we had about 10 businesses provide services like therapy animals, nail polishing, sweets and more donating their time for the community. During the event, a sign-up for an Angel Tree was offered to attendees, and by Christmas, we had taken care of over 100 children’s gifts.

2025 

I was awarded the SevenDays Ripple of Kindness award and the SevenDays scholarship. I am the first youth recipient of the Ripple of Kindness award, and the first recipient to ever earn both awards.

We again returned on May 24th, and this year I was honored to be a speaker at the vigil. I got to tell my personal story of how I found myself in Uvalde, and I said the names of the 21 as their candles were lit. That evening, we went to the cemetery and stayed there until after midnight. Next to the grave of Jackie Cazares sat a tent that her family had set up. We stayed there with the parents of Jackie Cazares, Lexi Rubio and Tess Mata, all of them victims from Robb. Cazares and Mata were lifelong friends. That night, they played music, shared stories and shared their little girls’ favorite foods. As I was leaving, Javier Cazares gave me an Eiffel Tower charm, which had come all the way from Paris. Jackie’s dream was to visit the Eiffel Tower one day, and her family was able to visit with photojournalist Tamir Kalifa.

This summer, I was awarded the Kansas City Royals Buck O’Neil Legacy Seat award. My heart was full as I saw a picture of the 21 on Crownvision.

We just recently had the Third Annual Sammie’s Toy Drive event. It was our biggest yet, with over 300 children in attendance. The line for the toy room stretched through the library foyer and out the front door. We offered a backpack giveaway to families. Each backpack was filled with the elementary school’s required supplies and an Angel Tree.

Along with Uvalde, we have served in Kerrville, Texas after the flooding tragedy in 2025, we helped a family after the KC Chiefs parade shooting, and we helped a family in Louisburg, Kansas after a vehicle tragedy. We do all of this to honor the 21 and the survivors, one toy at a time.

21 butterflies.