LITTLETON, Colo. -- Craig Scott knows what the families in Florida are going through after their community was subjected to the same violence he experienced nearly two decades ago.
Scott was a student at Columbine High School during the high school massacre orchestrated by two students on April 20, 1999. He saw his friends shot. His sister, Rachel, was killed. Yet a day after the now-deadliest mass school shooting in U.S. history, he is sharing a message of hope.
“People are feeling the darkness but there is a light. Look hard enough and you’ll find it,” he told Denver7.
Scott, along with his family, started Rachel’s Challenge after the shooting to honor her life and memory. They speak to schools throughout the country, sharing a message of inspiration, compassion, and hope.
“We focus on...- in schools, how you treat one another, how you treat yourself, the value of human life,” he said.
That’s why the recent mass school shooting hits so close to home. Yet Scott says it has added fuel to the fire to continue to help kids.
“It strengthens my resolve to say, OK, there are problems, there are some real negative things happening with kids, but there’s also real answers.”
He says his sister, who was just 17 when she was killed, knew the importance of reaching out with kindness. That’s the mission of Rachel’s Challenge, especially to a country in mourning.
“I believe when you focus on the light you automatically dissipate the darkness,” he told Denver7. “Because by focusing on the right things, it’s like a candle, it automatically gets rid of that darkness.”
For more information on Rachel’s Challenge, head to rachelschallenge.org or email cscott@rachelschallenge.org.