Last year Paloma Gonzalez raised enough money to hand out six scholarships to Uvalde students and is hoping to hand out more this year.
SAN ANTONIO — Last year, KENS 5 shared the story of a San Antonio ultramarathoner who ran 71 miles from San Antonio to Uvalde in honor of Robb Elementary shooting victims. The run marked the second year since the tragedy.
She’s at it again! Paloma Gonzalez plans on lacing up her sneakers once again in honor of the victims, marking the third year since the tragedy.
Last year, when Paloma entered the city of Uvalde, she was greeted with a hero’s welcome as she completed the 71 mile journey from San Antonio to the Uvalde Town Square.
“I was feeling so emotional,” said Gonzalez.
Gonzalez says she remembers all the smiling faces and families that were there to greet her.
“They made me feel part of their community. So to me, I have two communities now because I’m definitely part of the community in Uvalde now,” she said.
May 24, 2025 will mark three years since the Robb Elementary tragedy that took the lives of 21 victims, 19 students and two teachers.
To honor the victims and uplift the community, Gonzalez will do it one step at a time. This time, through the streets of Uvalde. She will begin her journey at a mural at the city’s entrance.
“I’m gonna meet at three o’clock on Friday the 23rd and I will start the run at 4 p.m. I’m running from there to the plaza, the Uvalde Plaza and then from the Uvalde Plaza, I have a route of about six miles and I’m just gonna keep doing that run over and over again for the next 24 hours,” said Gonzalez.
And she won’t be alone. After last year’s run, many in the community wanted to join her and will be joining her in the upcoming run.
“I have at least like 15 family members that they say that at some point they want to meet us and then there’s a running club that says that it wants to do a few miles with us,” said Gonzalez.
Last year, Gonzalez raised enough money to hand out six $1,000 scholarships to Uvalde students.
This year, she wants to do it again. To raise the money, she has started a GoFundMe and designed t-shirts with the names of the victims.
Gonzalez is selling the shirts for $25 each, with 100% of the proceeds going toward scholarships.
For every $1,000 raised, Gonzalez will give out a scholarship.
“This year, I hope that it can be more than that. We’ll see,” she said.
If you would like to help, you can find the link to her GoFundMe here.
If you would like to purchase a shirt, you can find a link to her Facebook page here.