<div>On October 15, a gunman walked into Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Oregon. This fundraiser is for the children who were inside Silver Rail that day and survived. While much of the community has had to keep moving, Silver Rail families are still at home with their kids, grieving.
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<div>Most of Bend’s kids went back to school this week. Silver Rail’s didn’t. There is no school for them right now, and we don’t know when it will reopen.
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<div>The press is gone. The memorial at the school has been cleaned up — the flowers, the books, the stuffed animals, the cards. And we are still home with our kids, grieving.
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<div>It is so hard to look into our children’s eyes right now. Something changed forever for them that day. We just want to bring some joy back into their lives.
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<div>This fund exists to support Silver Rail survivors in a way centered on what they need when they are ready: chances to be kids again, to laugh, to be together, and to have something good to look forward to. Donations will be used first to sponsor Silver Rail Elementary student trips to local pumpkin patches, continue the FC Timbers Camp that was so helpful to our families, start pottery and art classes, parks and rec passes, movie tickets, mini golf, museum passes, and camp spots — bought directly from local businesses, paid in full.
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<div>The need is immediate because the school is closed now, the children are home every day, and the free events offered by local businesses are ending before most families have braved stepping out their front door. Those offers mostly reached the people who were ready to go out. Our kids weren’t yet. And it isn’t fair to ask those same small businesses to keep eating the cost.
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<div>The goal is to take the kids on a field trip to the pumpkin patch next week, reserve Mountain Air days for our kids, and try to continue the FC Timbers Camp before the school reopens, so kids have something to enjoy while the world moves forward. This support will also continue to matter through the holidays, winter and spring breaks, and next summer, when the quiet can feel heaviest. Recurring donations help the fund keep providing these experiences over time, and one-time gifts are deeply appreciated too.
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<div>Planned support includes trampoline park passes, movie tickets, pumpkin patch visits, ski days on Mt. Bachelor, the High Desert Museum, county fair tickets and ride wristbands, family swim, kids’ pottery, Kids’ Night Out, rafting on the Deschutes next summer, camp over winter break, and trips to the Oregon Coast Aquarium, the Oregon Zoo, and OMSI.
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<div>Every Silver Rail Elementary survivor from October 15 will receive direct support. 100% of the fund is designated for the children who were at Silver Rail that day, wherever they go to school next — not the school, not the PTO. Every dollar spent from this GoFundMe will be posted publicly so donors can see exactly where the money went and the joy it brings to these children when they need it most.
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<div>Please help bring moments of connection and childhood back to our SRE families in the weeks and months ahead. Whether through a one-time donation, a recurring gift, or sharing this fundraiser, every bit of support will help Silver Rail children feel cared for as they move through what comes next.
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<div>— Nicole Ybarrondo, mother of two Silver Rail students, in partnership with other Silver Rail Elementary mothers
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<div>ABOUT THIS FUNDRAISER
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<div>Who I am and how I’m connected. My name is Nicole Guerin-Ybarrondo. I’m a Silver Rail Elementary parent — two of my children were at the school on October 15, 2026. I organized this fundraiser with other Silver Rail parents.
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<div>Who the funds are for. The children who were enrolled at or present at Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Oregon, on October 15, 2026. This is not a fund for any individual family, the school, or the district.
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<div>Transfer plan. On October 23, 2026, we filed Articles of Incorporation for the Silver Rail Children’s Fund, an Oregon public benefit nonprofit corporation. Oregon Business Registry #264524597. EIN 43-2607169. We are opening a bank account in the nonprofit’s name this week. Once it is open, we will change the beneficiary of this GoFundMe to the Silver Rail Children’s Fund so that all funds — already raised and future — transfer directly to that account. No funds will be withdrawn before then. Our 501(c)(3) application is being processed now. The nonprofit is governed by a board of three Silver Rail parents who serve without pay, abstain from any decision that benefits their own household beyond what every eligible family receives, and require two officers to approve any payment over $1,000. We will publish a monthly public ledger of money in and money out. If you want to look us up, you can.
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<div>How the funds will be spent. 100% goes to the children. The Silver Rail Kids Fun Fund pays local businesses in full — at their regular prices — for experiences delivered to every eligible household with no application: passes, memberships, tickets, kids’ nights out, class and camp fees, and field trips. No money goes to any building, school, district, agency, or legal matter. Over time, as the nonprofit grows, funds will also support longer-term resources for these children and, eventually, scholarships.
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<div>Why we started this. This week we asked for help paying DD Ranch for a class pumpkin patch trip — not a donation, just paying a business that had already offered a big discount. We learned there was no fund that could do that. So we built one.
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<div>What we learned along the way. A lot of generous fundraising in Bend has been described as being for Silver Rail families and children. When we asked where that money lands, here’s what we were told, directly:
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<div>PTO funds stay at Silver Rail Elementary, for the school — staff support, programs, school resources, and PTO-sanctioned events whenever it reopens. That’s what a PTO is for, and we’re grateful for it.
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<div>The district’s Silver Rail Recovery Fund is reserved for district use.
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<div>The GoFundMes for the named victims’ families go directly to those families, as they should.
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<div>None of that is wrong. It just means that until now there was no fund that put anything directly in the hands of our children — the ones who were in the building that day — for as long as they’re growing up, wherever they go to school.
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<div>That’s this fund. Experiences, resources, and eventually scholarships. Nothing expires when a child leaves Silver Rail. Businesses are paid in full. 100% to the kids.
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<div>Thank you for standing with our children.
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Support Silver Rail Children's Fund

Support Silver Rail Children's Fund

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