Many people watching the tragedy and heartbreak unfold in Uvalde feel compelled to do something. In Fort Worth, the community will get the chance to send words of support to the families whose lives have been forever changed.
Words have power. And at the DFW Arlington National Funeral home, people will have an opportunity to share, in their own words, messages of support. Those words will then travel some five hours to reach the ones who need them most.
“We’re allowing the public to come by and sign the posters. That way once they sign the posters, we are going to be able to bring them to Uvalde and present them to the funeral home so they can present them to the families,” said Derrick Johnson, Manager of Operations at DFW National Funeral Home.
Derrick Johnson has been in touch with the funeral home directors in Uvalde offering a hand and even sending a hearse from the Fort Worth Funeral Home should someone need it.
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He said collecting signatures is a way of taking the North Texas community with him when he meets with people there later this week.
“It’s more than just business,” Johnson said. “This is something we do daily, but it’s not about us. It’s about showing our love and support to that community.”
Going with him on the journey will be Melinda Hamilton, founder of Mothers of Murdered Angels. It will be her second trip.
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“I know what it’s like,” Hamilton said. “Like I told you, it’s no book or no manual that you have to read when one of you loved ones get killed.”
Hamilton’s daughter Shameka Rodriguez was killed in a drive-by shooting in 2018. And in 2020 her grandson, Derrick, was shot and killed. She said going to Uvalde to offer basics like food and water as well as moral support is the goal.
“That’s the purpose of other people rallying around a person is to help them because we know they’re not in their right mind,” she said. “They’re going through trauma right there. They need counseling right there.”
The hope is the words taken to Uvalde to reach someone at just the right time.
The DFW Arlington National Funeral Home will open its doors tomorrow from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. to allow people to sign the posters.
