MADISON — Many community members have stepped in to help after the deadly school shooting at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison on Monday.
Our sister station TMJ4 connected with a leader in the Muslim community in Madison who is hoping to provide security upgrades to the school.
“Let’s act together in such a way that we can make a change,” Masood Akhtar said.
Akhtar started We Are Many – United Against Hate in 2016. It’s an organization that brings people together to stand up against hate, prejudice, and inequality.
He doesn’t have a connection to Abundant Life Christian School. However, the news of the deadly shooting was painful.
Watch: Madison man offers to add security updates after deadly school shooting
“This behavior is not acceptable,” Akhtar said.
The thought of losing more lives to school shootings is something he wants to stop.
“Young people. They want to build this country. But now you go to school, and you don’t know if you are coming back home,” Akhtar said.
Akhtar wants to make sure kids and teachers make it home at the end of each school day.
“If you see something, say something, do something. That’s what exactly what I’m doing. I got the community involved but I want to go beyond that,” Akhtar explained.
He is working with a security company out of Illinois to draft a security plan for Abundant Life Christian School. Akhtar plans to flip the bill for the private school. His hopes are that he can locate funding to help other schools as well.
This type of generosity means the world to parents like Kellen Lewis.
“There’s a lot of ugliness to something like this but there are a lot of people who are stepping up to help in any way possible,” Lewis said.
Although Lewis doesn’t know Akhtar, he knows they do share a common goal.
“Seeing people across the political spectrum, seeing people even with different religions that are willing to step up and try to do anything they can to help their neighbors it’s the sort of thing that is consistent with what Jesus tells us to do. To love our neighbors as ourselves,” Lewis explained.
