Thank you to all of our chapters that have asked about the MOMS Club in Parkland, FL. Here’s a message from their president:
“Thank you for checking in on our chapter. Obviously it has been rough few days here in Parkland and will continue to be for the foreseeable future. To update you on our chapter, to my knowledge all of the families in our chapter are safe and accounted for. We do have some members with high school aged children who were in the high school on Wednesday. I can tell you that our community is small. Most of our schools are within a mile of each other. Any child still at their middle, elementary or preschool at the time of the incident was on lock down for at least 2 hours. At our preschool, teachers were in the bathrooms, in the dark with their children “playing hide and seek” for hours. Parents were stuck outside of the schools not allowed to leave their cars. These were the lucky parents. We knew our kids were safe.
To give you some information about our hometown, it is small, 1 high school (Stoneman Douglas), one middle school and 3 elementary schools. We are mostly a community of families, parks, and residential neighborhoods. Until Wednesday, we were the “safest community in Florida.” Helicopters currently hover over us everyday, traffic patters are disturbed and media is everywhere. We are getting daily emails for vigils and funerals. Our playground is teeming with reporters and our rec center has been converted into a counseling center run by the Red Cross. Everyone in our community knows someone whose child has died as a result of Wednesday’s shooting.
Our members are reaching out to help the community. In a matter of 48 hours we have:
- Brought supplies (water, tissues and snacks) to the Red Cross counseling center located at our Rec Center.
- Brought snacks and lunch to the mobile Broward Sheriff’s Office Command Center at the high school. We were escorted by the police into the large zone where the public is not allowed and brought several pizza’s, salad trays, and pasta trays to the first responders.
- At last nights vigil we helped babysit the younger children so their parents could attend the vigil.
- We are participating in meal plans for the victims families
- Tonight we will be babysitting again at another event at our local temple.
- We are planning a large scale event to make cards for the teachers and staff at all the schools in our community to thank them for their hard work protecting our children. And cards for the victims in the hospital as well as their families.
- We donated blood.
- We are currently working on a large scale project to make freezer meals for the victims family. That may take more time to plan and put together.
I am sure in the future we will have more time to see how we can help the community and plan more projects. For now we would love your help getting the word out about the cards we are making. On Monday our children will meet at the park and make as many cards as possible. Can you ask all of our chapters to help in this effort? Help make cards for all the amazing teachers, students, staff and families at Stoneman Douglas. I can provide information on how to send the cards to us. On behalf of myself and the rest of the board, thank you for your support!
Susan Alman
President, Parkland Moms Club
With MOMS Love,
MOMS Club Parkland, FL”
*** This just in — for chapters that would like to participate in the card project:
“We want to paper our town with cards made with love by our toddlers, preschoolers and elementary aged children, most of whom know something is going on but not quite exactly what. To send cards created by kids across our country please feel free to mail them directly to my office address. 7401 Wiles Road, Suite 353, Coral Springs, FL 33067. If anyone has any questions please feel free to email our club at parklandmomsclub@gmail.com. I will respond directly to any inquiries.
Thank you for your love and support. We are #ParklandStrong and our community will not only persevere, we will flourish and create healing and change throughout this Country!
Susan Alman
President, Parkland MOMS Club”