On Friday morning, Cheryl Jackson piled teddy bears into bins hoping to protect them from potential storms. She is a volunteer caretaker at the Allen Premium Outlets mall memorial site.
"So many," Jackson said looking at the volume of flowers, stuffed animals, and messages. "Just so many."
A cluster of once-white crosses is painted in marker with messages of hope and healing and calls for action. Some of the messages are clearly written in the unsteady handwriting of young children.
"It's so sad that kids have to write letters like this," Jackson said, reading one card. "I'm deeply sorry this world took you so early, but don't be scared. Just know to stay with your sister and help protect her."
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"These are journals to the families," Jackson said.
What if we didn't just leave messages, but took them in...to heart.
"Tough," Cynthia Morse of McKinney said reading them, choking back tears. "Dear Sofia, I am so sad for your death. I am also in second grade and I know you are in heaven."
Morse turned to a woman standing next to her she didn't know. "Do you mind if I give you a hug," Morse asked and the women embraced.
"Because when I read it, I feel like I'm channeling the person that wrote it and how they're grieving," Morse said.
Jackson said she thinks of her grandson.
"He didn't go to school on Monday because there was a possible threat, and he said, well what if he come on Tuesday," Jackson said teary-eyed.
"Reading the messages," Wengelawit Gizaw said as she and her family paused at the memorial. "It makes me feel they have the same kind of, like, they have the same kind of heartbreaking feeling as I do. Yeah."
"Reading someone else's words just kind of gives me a little hope. It lets us know that they're not alone," Jackson said reading through the cards that have been left. "The entire world has been saying it, and at some point, change does have to come."
