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Jacksonville-area alumni of Stoneman Douglas join together to help victims

More than 80 Jacksonville-area alumni of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School are joining together to help current students.

The regional alumni association leaders told Action News Jax they also want to make sure the public can get involved and help the children heal following last week's mass shooting at the Parkland school that left 17 people dead and several wounded.

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One Jacksonville Stoneman Douglas graduate is hosting a fundraiser at Super Food and Brew on 11 E. Forsyth St. on Thursday from 5-10 p.m.

Owner Randal Gonzalez said 100 percent of the sales will be donated the shooting victims’ families and survivors.

If you don’t have time for dinner but want to swing by, there will also be donation buckets at the restaurant.

Mandarin couple Paul and Natalie Cordova started holding hands when they were students at Stoneman Douglas; these days, they’re holding on a little tighter.

“Within 10 minutes of the first shells hitting the ground, my phone was on fire,” said Paul Cordova.

“I think as members of the founding class, we are taking this extra personally. And, as parents, we are taking this extra personally,” said Natalie Cordova.

The Cordovas have become the regional leaders of the national Marjory Stoneman Douglas alumni association, bringing together more than 80 local alumni in less than a week.

“I am very proud of my alumni, but I am most proud of these students who are dealing with it right now and they are already taking action. So we kind of have to follow their lead,” said Natalie Cordova.

“I think these kids are going to save the world. I really do,” said Paul Cordova. “I think a lot of us come from different backgrounds and probably don’t all have the same opinion of how to best move forward, but I think with the fact that we’re all Stoneman Douglas Eagles, we are putting a lot of those other things aside and committing to one another and have that discussion.”