FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:
Tessa Benavides
[email protected]
(210) 445-3965
UVALDE, TX (December 5, 2022) – The Uvalde CISD Moving Forward Foundation is honored to announce a half a million-dollar grant from The VF Foundation to the fundraising efforts toward building a new elementary school in the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District (UCISD) following the tragedy at Robb Elementary School. The investment will go towards outdoor design elements as part of the construction of a gymnasium, outdoor learning area, specialized play area, and outdoor sports and play space.
On November 16, 2022, the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District, approved the site selection and conceptual design for the new elementary school presented by the Uvalde CISD Community Advisory Committee. The next step toward construction is for schematic designs to be developed with the goal of presenting them at the Uvalde CISD Board meeting in March 2023.
“With nearly 100 employees in Uvalde and a longstanding connection to the local area, all of us at VF feel a deep responsibility to do our part to help the community heal and provide a new center for learning and play, especially for Uvalde’s young people,” said Anita Graham, Executive Vice President, Chief Human Resources Officer and Public Affairs at VF Corporation and Vice President of the Board of Directors at The VF Foundation. “The VF Foundation is dedicated to seeding a lifelong love of the outdoors at an early age. We believe that blending classroom learning with outdoor exploration is transformative and helps youth grow in profound ways. We hope our grant to fund the outdoor elements of the new school will encourage others to invest in bringing the new elementary campus to fruition as Uvalde moves forward.”
In the wake of the tragedy at Robb Elementary School, the Uvalde CISD Moving Forward Foundation was established to help collect funding for the construction of a new elementary campus in the Uvalde CISD. With support from generous donors, funds raised will help the children, families, and staff of the Uvalde CISD community move forward together.
“We are humbled by the gift from The VF Foundation. It is through the generosity of the philanthropic community and organizations like The VF Foundation that we can help the Uvalde community to begin moving forward,” said Tim Miller, Executive Director of the Uvalde CISD Moving Forward Foundation.
In addition to The VF Foundation grant, VF Corporation’s Dickies® and JanSport® brands contributed more than $14,000 to The San Antonio Community Foundation’s Uvalde Strong Fund to support nonprofits providing urgently-needed assistance for school programs, mental health services, and family support in the Uvalde community in the wake of the tragedy and donated more than 4,350 backpacks and school supplies for students of the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District on their first day back to school last September.
About the Uvalde CISD Moving Forward Foundation
The Uvalde CISD Moving Forward Foundation is a 501(c)(3) charitable foundation serving the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District community. The nonprofit was created in the wake of the tragedy at Robb Elementary School, which took 21 innocent lives on May 24, 2022. Funding collected through the foundation will support the construction of a new elementary school campus in the Uvalde CISD, ensuring students and staff will not have to return to the site of the tragedy, and ultimately supporting the District’s ongoing needs as it moves forward. For more information about the foundation, including opportunities for making a donation, please visit www.uvaldecisdmovingforward.org.
About The VF Foundation
The VF Foundation is the private grantmaking organization funded by VF Corporation, one of the world’s largest apparel, footwear and accessories companies with iconic outdoor, active and workwear brands including Vans®, The North Face®, Timberland®, Smartwool®, JanSport® and Dickies®. With its partners, The VF Foundation strives to innovate and problem-solve in collaborative ways to drive transformative, lasting change with the vision of creating a more equitable and sustainable world. Established in 2002, the Foundation has granted more than $66 million globally to meaningfully improve the communities where VF operates. It’s committed to driving movements for the betterment of people and the planet across its key strategic pillars: embracing Outside Matters, championing Worthy Work, empowering creativity and self-expression as we are Free to Be, and supporting Disaster Relief and Recovery. Learn more at https://www.vfc.com/responsibility/the-vf-foundation.