Victims of Va. Tech, Va. Beach mass shootings seek to create permanent fund for survivors, families
In a recent article in The Washington Post, Carl Britt is among those supporting a push to create a permanent $10 million endowment fund in Virginia to reimburse mass-shooting survivors and families of the slain for certain expenses their insurance and other funds do not cover. The Virginia Mass Violence Care Fund would invest the money in a manner similar to the state’s “529 Fund,” which helps parents pay their children’s college expenses, and use an expected yield of $400,000 per year to help victims.
The effort is being led by Joseph Samaha, whose daughter Reema was killed in a 2007 mass shooting at Virginia Tech, in which 32 were slain and 24 injured. For years, he has helped lead VTV Care, the Virginia Tech Victims’ Family Outreach Foundation, which has provided help to victims of other mass shootings, launched a national campus safety initiative and created a funding model for covering victims’ expenses that are not reimbursed by insurance or other funds.
Efforts to create Mass Violence Care Fund not in budget as expected by supporters
A local lawmaker has submitted a budget amendment for $10 million to begin a fund that would help survivors of mass shootings in Virginia.
As of late Monday afternoon, it appeared that the budget amendment for the Mass Violence Care Fund did not make it into either the House or Senate budget bills to be considered.
But as we have learned, in the General Assembly nothing is final until the session is over, and efforts are underway to get the care fund considered.
Reactions from Survivors
10 On Your Side aired stories about funding — or lack of funding, for now — for victims of mass shootings in Virginia, and it has struck a nerve for some.
As lawmakers figure out how to get a victims’ fund back in the budget, we are hearing from a man who has never talked about his ordeal during the mass shooting in Virginia Beach on May 31, 2019.
Ernesto Moreno was watching our 10 On Your Side reports, and he was upset lawmakers excluded the budget amendments.
That funding could help him in the future, and he wanted to speak out about it.
The Governor’s Position - So Far
Del. Barry Knight expecting the budget amendment to establish Virginia Mass Violence Care Fund to come from Governor Glenn Youngkin in his budget amendments due in the next five weeks. View the interview clip on Twitter.