WASHINGTON, July 21, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Today, Texas parents gathered outside the White House for a solemn memorial and press conference following the catastrophic flooding in Kerr County that claimed more than 120 lives, including 27 children attending summer camp.
Organized by impacted families and the Make Polluters Pay, a campaign by Fossil Free Media, the memorial featured a powerful visual display of 27 children’s camp trunks on the Ellipse Lawn—each representing a young life lost. Parents placed yellow roses atop the trunks in silence before delivering impassioned remarks demanding federal accountability and urgent action to protect children from worsening climate-driven disasters.
The ceremony concluded with a stirring performance by a local choir, who sang “Lean on Me” and “Rise Like the Water” as families stood arm in arm, calling for justice and change.
Parents directly blamed the Trump administration’s cuts to disaster preparedness and early warning systems, including FEMA, NOAA, and the National Weather Service, which they say left communities vulnerable. Texas Senator Ted Cruz, who chairs the Senate Commerce Committee, recently inserted language into H.R. 1 that slashed millions from NOAA programs essential for flood forecasting and public alerts.
“We know that this administration, by destroying renewable energy and using our tax dollars to prop up the fossil fuel industry, an industry that earned $102 billion dollars last year, is doing everything it can to supercharge this climate crisis,” said Texan and mom Samantha Gore. “To also be defunding our NWS and NOAA, the agencies we use to keep our children safe, at the same time is unthinkable. How dare they. Parents won’t sit back while our children die from floods that shouldn’t have been supercharged, from DOGE cuts that put their lives on the line, and from weather services not being funded. What are they thinking? We won’t back down. They are destroying everything we love.”
In addition to demanding the restoration of life-saving public programs, demonstrators called on President Trump and Congress to hold fossil fuel companies financially accountable for the damage their pollution has caused.
“Texans are grieving because public safety systems were dismantled to serve fossil fuel interests,” said Cassidy DiPaola, spokesperson for the Make Polluters Pay campaign. “Senator Cruz helped cut flood forecasting programs days before the storm. Now families are paying the price while polluters and their allies deflect blame. Texans deserve accountability, not excuses.”
Speakers stressed that the Kerr County tragedy reflects a growing pattern of climate disasters that will only intensify without bold action and restoration of critical safeguards.
“It feels like we’ve lost our way as a country in a very short time. In the six months since this administration has been in charge they have encouraged, enabled, allowed a temporary government agency, one with no oversight, to wantonly cut budgets and offer early retirements for roles that are crucial to the safety of our communities. There were other serious failures at lower levels of government, all of which directly contributed to the loss of dozens of children’s lives. These weren’t accidents or acts of God. These were intentional choices. Let that sink in,” said Texan and mom Helen Waters. “ This event affected me deeply as I grew up going to summer camp in the area and I have close friends who were caught in the flooding and nearly died. However it’s clear to me that this has, and will, happen in other places. We must fight for a social contract with reliable and accountable.”
“As an Austin mom, I’ve been feeling the losses of the children from my community in a very visceral, immediate way,” said Texan and mom Eileen McGinnis. “As the founder of The Parents’ Climate Community, a climate nonprofit in Central Texas, I was moved to join because it’s also vital to connect these losses, this collective grief, to a larger story: kids around the world are bearing the brunt of climate change’s impacts, and we are failing to protect them.”
To speak with parents or campaign representatives, please contact:
Cassidy DiPaola | Fossil Free Media | cassidy@fossilfree.media | 401-441-7196
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/dec3545d-41ef-480b-a8bf-bb3665e09832
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