(NewsNation) — Charles Moreno heard of the mass shooting in Uvalde while he was at work in San Antonio, Texas. It turns out one of his friends is the husband of Eva Mireles, one of the teachers who was tragically killed in the shooting.
He wanted to do something to support the community, so he held a barbecue fundraiser in San Antonio to support the victims of the shooting.
“I’m 85 miles away from Uvalde here in San Antonio. I lived there for many years, I worked in that community….I felt like I had to do something to help out that community and the victims,” he said during an interview on NewsNation Prime.
Moreno described Uvelde as small town with a close-knit community. “It’s like Small Town U.S.A.,” he said. “For festivals, everybody gets together. Everybody shops in the same grocery stores, goes to the same churches….It’s just a good old small town.”
He first found out about the shooting when he was at work. “I was at work, actually, when I found out it happened….Ironically my son-in-law’s sister was at the school when they were evacuating the kids and trying to take them to another shelter,” he said.
The barbecue fundraiser is part of a growing number of efforts to support those impacted by the shooting.
An online fundraiser has raised millions of dollars for victims of the mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas. An anonymous donor stepped up and paid for the entire cost of funeral for the victims.