Virginia launches first permanent fund for mass shooting victims

Organizers believe interest, investment returns alone on $10 million fund will sustain it permanently

By Tom Jackman
October 14, 2023 at 6:00 a.m. EDT

In 2022, America suffered more than 36 mass killings, where four or more people were killed not including the shooter. One of those was in a Chesapeake, Va., Walmart, where six people were killed, and six were wounded in November. Nationwide, according to Washington Post data, 186 people died and 91 wounded in mass killings last year.

The aftermath of such shootings is a chaotic jumble of grief, vigils, funerals and financial upheaval. Donations flow in, but who gets the money? Insurance covers some costs, but often runs out. Who qualifies for financial help in the wake of such sudden, horrific tragedy?

Virginia has now taken steps to answer those questions. Legislators in the General Assembly approved a $10 million, one-time appropriation to create the Virginia Mass Violence Care Fund, which experts said is the first of its kind in the nation, designed to provide prompt assistance to victims, survivors and their families when other sources of financial help dry up. After the budget process was delayed for months beyond the end of the legislative session, Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) signed the budget, and the fund, into law on Sept. 14.

The driving force for the creation of Virginia’s mass shooting victims’ fund was Joseph Samaha of Centreville, Va., whose daughter Reema was slain in the 2007 Virginia Tech shootings. Samaha has helped oversee the VTV [Virginia Tech Victims] Family Outreach Foundation and its VTVCare endowment fund and has learned a lot about the long-term impact of mass shootings over the last 16 years.

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