Family, At MY Project USA, we mostly talk about at-risk children who we serve in certain neighborhoods, but on nights like last night we are reminded that all American children are at risk until after the gun laws are changed to keep the guns away from all kinds of mass murderers. American children are at risk until after more investments are made in addressing all kinds of mental health issues including trauma, radicalism, depression and more. We at MY Project USA are deeply saddened at the senseless massacre of elementary school children and their teacher in Texas. As an organization that deals with gang and gun violence too often, we are way more familiar about the pain and trauma due to the sudden loss of a young life at the hands of guns. One loss is way too much to bear. Too much to handle for a family, for friends, for a school, for a community. It’s too much pain to bear. It’s too much trauma. Losing just one life is too much. Here once again multiple innocent lives are taken away in another town of America because of senseless lack of control on guns and lack of investments to address mental health issues. An entire community is mourning. Entire country is mourning. We are mourning with them. We are praying for those moms, those dads, for the siblings, friends, grandmas and grandpas, aunts and uncles and everyone else who is hurting. As we are praying for them, we are also pledging to keep doing every single thing that needs to be done to protect and empower all of our children. We ask President Biden, US Senators, US Congress, Legislators across the country to do everything possible to pass laws that would end such massacres once forever.
Like the children around the world, American children also deserve to be safe and secure in their own schools, within their own communities. Unfortunately, being an organization that deals with the consequences of gun violence, we cannot pause from what we got to do to make sure that this does not happen in our neighborhood. Regardless of how heavy our hearts are, how numbed we are, how much we want to sit back and just process it, we won't pause. Instead we will turn our pain into purpose as we always do. We hope you will do the same. We ask that you also take an action. Contact your legislators. Donate to Sandy Hook Promise, Moms Demand Action, Every Town For Gun Safety or any other organization that advocate for gun safety in our communities. Take care of each other. Hug your people tight. May God Be with the Robb Elementary School's parents and families. May God with the children in America. May God give us a will and a mean to stop gun violence in America. Until then EVERY CHILD IN AMERICA IS AN AT-RISK CHILD. I have nothing else to say today. I will send other updates later. In Solidarity with Youth and Families, Zerqa Abid, Founder & Executive Director, MY Project USA | 
