George and Amal Clooney just made a huge donation to Florida school shooting survivors
In less than a week, Parkland, Florida, has transformed into the grounds for a new movement helmed by teenagers who have made it their mission to shift the conversation around gun control and put an end to mass shootings.
These students, survivors of a school shooting that claimed 17 victims from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, have been organizing on social media and in real life. A rally, March for Our Lives, will take place on March 24— and it just got a major donation boost from George and Amal Clooney.
SEE ALSO: After Florida shooting, gun control becomes a global conversation
"Amal and I are so inspired by the courage and eloquence of these young men and women from Stoneman Douglas High School," reads the note, tweeted by Stoneman Douglas student and survivor Sarah Chadwick.
"Our family will be there on March 24 to stand side by side with this incredible generation of young people from all over the country, and in the name of our children Ella and Alexander, we're donating $500,000 to help pay for this groundbreaking event. Our children's lives depend on it."
On behalf of the #neveragain and #March4OurLives movement we want to thank George and Amal for the support and donation. We are so thankful for everyone’s support and with it are hoping to make a change👊 pic.twitter.com/X8n9u0Rswj
— Sarah Chadwick// #NEVERAGAIN (@sarahchad_) February 20, 2018
There are few details about the march but the students have already announced they will head to Washington D.C. "to demand that their lives and safety become a priority and that we end this epidemic of mass school shootings." They are also encouraging other communities to march in their own cities across the country.
Students like Chadwick, Emma González, Cameron Kasky and many more have turned the hashtag #NeverAgain into an rallying point for continued strategy for gun control—and their dogged efforts (and Twitter call outs) are working. According to Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight, the Google searches for the term "gun control" is still strong, suggesting that this is a conversation that will not disappear anytime soon, thanks in part to these students and their mobilization.
So far, Parkland is *not* fading from the news the way that mass shootings usually do. (The graph shows Google searches for the term "gun control".) The students speaking out makes a pretty big difference. pic.twitter.com/8IcJuJ6yTS
— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) February 18, 2018
You can read more about the teenagers and their organizing efforts here.
UPDATE: Feb. 20, 2018, 5:51 p.m. EST Looks like Oprah is joining the cause and supporting the students financially. She announced in a tweet that she would be matching the Clooney's donation.
George and Amal, I couldn’t agree with you more. I am joining forces with you and will match your $500,000 donation to ‘March For Our Lives.’ These inspiring young people remind me of the Freedom Riders of the 60s who also said we’ve had ENOUGH and our voices will be heard.
— Oprah Winfrey (@Oprah) February 20, 2018
