SandyFeet Sandcastle Services donated a sand-carved billboard for fallen Uvalde student, Maite Rodriguez. The sand billboard was adorned with a turtle, due to Rodriguez’s affinity for marine life. (Courtesy photo)
By CATHERINE DONNELLY
Special to the PRESS
The life and spirit of ten-year-old Maite Rodriguez was honored in an event Saturday at the Andy Bowie County Park Beach Access on South Padre Island. Cameron County officials proclaimed in her honor, 200 volunteers came from all over South Texas to do a beach clean-up and Sandy Feet Sandcas-tle Services presented the family with a commemorative “Uvalde Strong” sand billboard.
Rodriguez’s favorite sneakers in her favorite color, green, helped authorities identify her after the shooting. Her beloved green shoes broke the hearts of millions of people globally in the wake of yet an-other deadly American mass shooting. One in 19 young students perished at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas. Rodriguez’s sneakers came to symbolize so much for so many.
Rodriguez was described by those who knew her as sweet, ambitious, caring and bright. She was being honored for her high academic grades on May 24, the day of the mass-shooting, a year and a half ago. Her goal was to study marine biology at Texas A&M in Corpus Christi. According to her teacher, Ro-driguez had dreamed of becoming a marine biologist since kindergarten.
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Maya’s Love is a non-profit organization formed in 2021 by Maira Alejandra Carrier to help support other children who have gone through childhood trauma. She wanted to create something that would remind these children that someone cares about them. Members of the non-profit strive to create pur-poseful causes and events to establish a long-term relationship with the children and families affected by what are some of the worst times or worst circumstances of their lives.
Carrier’s organization was at Uvalde two days after the shooting and has built relationships with the families who were affected by the tragic event. The organization offers counseling, gives care packages and gets the media involved to “not forget about the importance of the work that needs to be done to prevent another mass shooting.”
“We don’t want to show up for the media, put a ‘band-aid’ on the situation and then leave the children and families when the reporters and cameras have all left and the families are struggling to put their lives back together,” said Carrier.
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