North Charlotte Today

The prospect of seeing your child off to school in the morning, and having it be the last time you saw them, used to be so remote it never really crossed the mind of most parents.

Today, though, with school shootings happening with alarming frequency, it has become much more of a daily concern.

“It hurts as a parent,” Peyton Brown, a father who is involved with the Be There Dad organization that gets men involved in their children’s schooling, said in a WBTV report. “It could be any of our kids. At times it really feels like we’re just kind of locked in and there’s no real change happening.” 

One of the group’s current goals is helping their children get through life after a school shooting, like last week’s in Uvalde, Texas, makes headlines.

“We try to do our small part, knowing how stressful it is,” Brown said. “Some kids know about it, some kids don’t. But we try to just kind of uplift, cheer them up, high-five them, get them going because… I can only imagine having that feeling and then having to walk into a school and then having to sit down and take a test.”

No matter how distant a school that experiences a shooting is, its reach hits most schoolchildren and teachers across the nation. It has a strong enough hold that other adults recognize and appreciate Be There Dad’s outreach.

“Teachers cry and give you a hug, parents get out of their car and come out and say, 'Thank you,’” Brown said.