Both the Kindness Duck Project (KDP) and Building Wishes are excited to announce the approval of first steps in the Uvalde Memorial Park Project by Uvalde’s City Council Tuesday evening. Operating out of the Fort Worth/North Texas area, both organizations continue to expand their scope of building a better future for others through kindness.

Raised in Uvalde, Kyle Wagner, Executor Director of KDP, has seen the Uvalde community persevere through thick and thin. However, the May 24, 2022 mass shooting at Robb Elementary School “…was and still is a different level,” says Wagner. “This is a pain no one should endure, and many families’ lives have been changed forever.” KDP started a fundraiser the evening of May 24th to raise money to send to hospitals directly to help pay for Robb-related medical bills. When the opportunity to team up with Building Wishes arose, KDP jumped at the opportunity to create a project that would simultaneously honor the victims and their families, while giving the entire community a shining light in darker times. “What the people, community, and families need right now is love. Love. Care. Kindness. Anything. Everything,” says Wagner. Tuesday evening, the City Council granted Building Wishes and KDP the opportunity to move forward with surveying and preliminary engineering work so that they can work toward providing those very things.

Originally known as ‘The Grove,’ Uvalde Memorial Park sits on roughly ten acres of city property. Officially renamed and dedicated on November 11, 1927, Uvalde Memorial Park has seen numerous additions and alterations, though the greater park area’s significance and usage in downtown Uvalde simultaneously has waned over time. Building Wishes and KDP hope to uniquely honor the victims of the Robb tragedy as ‘pillars of the community’ while creating a bridge to a path forward for Uvalde by providing a large, diverse, and inclusive area for the community to gather, play, celebrate, and remember.

“Building Wishes is beyond honored and excited to be a part of the Uvalde Memorial Park redesign and construction,” says Brian Grossman, Executive Director of Building Wishes. “We truly believe this park will be a light in the community and a place that families, citizens, and visitors can build memories for decades to come.” Building Wishes and KDP hope that Uvalde Memorial Park will be a place to promote light and life through play and gathering, learning and art, in the past, present, and future. “Kindness is the agenda. Nothing else,” says Wagner. “We have teamed up with strategic nonprofit partners, such as A Memory Grows, to help us carry out this expansive, yet delicate, vision. Now, we are asking others – foundations, nonprofits, corporations, groups, families, even individuals – to join us in giving Uvalde something to bridge the past, present, and future together.”

Relevant Links:

http://www.uvaldememorialpark.com

About the Organizations

Growing from a 35-year-old commercial-design build firm, Building Wishes builds things for the good of others by bringing safe, accessible playsets and playhouses to kids facing tremendous obstacles. Partnering with amazing companies and other nonprofits, Building Wishes allows them to be part of something so much bigger than themselves to make a difference. Since its inception, the now 501(c)(3) nonprofit has built over 50 playhouses for children and their families and is currently working on the first Make-A-Wish All Abilities Park in Glenn Heights, TX. Learn more at: http://www.buildingwishes.org

The Kindness Duck Project began with a vision to teach children about kindness by leaving little rubber ‘Kindness Ducks’ as mementos for recipients, who would then, in turn, pass along new random acts of kindness. The #KindnessDuck movement grew and is now a certified 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Their mission is simple — Plant Kindness, Grow Kindness, Share Kindness. Their goal — to promote kindness in as many ways and to as many people as possible! Learn more at: http://www.kindnessduck.com

A 501(c)(3) nonprofit based out of Fort Worth, TX, A Memory Grows provides retreats and special events for parents whose children have died. Founded by DeAndrea Dare and Aaron Graham as a legacy to their son Max, their core belief is that the love between a parent and child never dies. The mission of A Memory Grows is to provide a safe space of healing and peace for parents by bringing together those who have experienced a similar loss. Love never dies, love always carries on. Learn more at: http://www.amemorygrows.org