Hi John,
I’ll never forget standing with my family at the first-ever March for Our Lives rally in Washington, D.C., back in 2018. We had traveled from Coral Springs—my hometown, just minutes from Parkland—to be there together. The night before, we crowded around the coffee table in our hotel room, making posters, planning our layers of clothes in anticipation of the cold, and trying to find the right words to capture what we were feeling.
The morning of the march, the air was sharp and windy, the trees were bare, and I remember shivering as we walked toward the crowd. But I also remember a feeling so much stronger than the cold: the overwhelming sense that we were part of something historic, something necessary, something that mattered.
Growing up in South Florida, the Parkland shooting wasn’t just a headline—it was a tragedy that hit painfully close to home. In the months that followed, while I was graduating high school and going to college, I found myself stepping into youth organizing because it was the only thing that made sense. It was the only thing that helped me believe change was possible.
That journey took me from organizing in my community to moving to Washington, D.C. for undergrad and grad school, where I continued to fight for gun violence prevention, working as both an organizer and a fundraiser for national gun violence prevention.
I, like many of my peers, carry that march in 2018 with me every step of the way. That’s why working at March for Our Lives is more than just a job—it’s a return to where my activism began.
As a Coral Springs native, as someone who was shaped by that moment in 2018, and as someone who still remembers standing shoulder to shoulder with my parents and my sibling on the Washington monument, this work feels deeply personal.
And on this Giving Tuesday, I’m reminded once again that this movement has always been powered by people—people who show up, speak out, and believe that together, we can build a safer future.
After hearing our stories, we hope you will join us in shaping the next chapter of history.
In gratitude,
Maria
|
