Uvalde: Lulac gives $500k to families
(CNN) - "Had to go back to work. You know we didn't have the luxury to stay home with our son, taking him to school, staying home with him, things of that nature."
Oscar Orona's 10-year-old son, Noah, was shot in the back on May 24.
"This weapon that was used, he had an entry wound and then about a two-inch wide hole in his back. And the exit wound is about an eight-inch sliver on his upper shoulder," Orona said.
As of now, Noah is out of the hospital, but he has a long road ahead of him, with close to 100 therapy sessions through the end of this year.
Fortunately, he will not receive plastic surgery, but will live with an indentation for the rest of his life.
Despite any pain, Noah was all smiles when gifted a medal and a check from the Lulac Foundation.
"This will certainly go a long way not only in his after-care, but hopefully his education as well," Orona spoke.
Half-a-million dollars were raised through the nationwide Latino civil rights activist group, Lulac. Checks were distributed to victim's families and survivors.
Some parents, like Jamie Cazares, put work on the backburner, trying to take heartbreak day-by-day.
"You know, we don't want to take advantage of that, of course we need to go back to work, and I've tried," Cazares confessed after losing his daughter Jacklyn on May 24.
"Losing a child or person to a sickness, you know, versus how they were taken, it's that much harder."
In addition, Lulac and Senator Roland Gutierrez also helped families apply for unemployment so they are not stressed financially.
"That allows them, those that are not working, to go out and get $700 a week from the state of Texas through the Victims of Crime Compensation Act," Gutierrez spoke.
