SAN ANTONIO — As the sun rises, Rolando Ramirez helps pack the school bus.

“It’s important because they need all of the support,” Southside ISD Superintendent Rolando Ramirez said. “I can’t imagine what they are going through.”

As the father of two boys, he says it was horrific learning about the massacre in Uvalde.

“Scary as a parent. Scary as a superintendent. Just a tragic situation,” said Ramirez.

As a superintendent in San Antonio, he knew they had to help the families.

“We sent four counselors who spent the day over there assisting the families,” Ramirez said. “Then we figured that wasn’t enough.”

The SISD Education Foundation began to collect donations, creating 600 comfort bags for every Robb Elementary students and 80 for the staff.

“I know it looks like a small bag of goodies,” SISD Education Foundation Executive Director Sylvia Rincon said. “But our counselors and social workers know that these types of items do help in times of uncertainty and stress.”

Items believed to help after a traumatic experience, such as therapeutic toys and coloring books, were placed inside the care packages.

“This isn’t going to be for the short term, it’s definitely going to be long term,” said Alejandra Gallgego, Southside ISD Student Services Coordinator. “It’s going to take years to process through this trauma.”

The bags for the 21 victims’ families include H-E-B gift cards. The district also donated $6,100 to the teachers and victims’ families.

“This is small, but it’s something they can have control of,” Rincon said. “Go to the grocery store, go get some gas and just use immediately.”

In Uvalde, the staff unloaded the busses, then added flowers to the memorial outside Robb Elementary.

“One family and one community,” Gallgego said. “We want to support Uvalde.”

As superintendent, Ramirez supports this community, but he’s forced to question his own district’s emergency preparedness and reevaluate safety on every campus.

“There are talks of metal detectors, bulletproof screening,” Ramirez said. “Just taking additional measures to make sure that the school district has everything that should be in place to maintain the safety and security of students and staff.”