Youth Peace and Justice Foundation Launches Memorial Fundraiser for Edimari Hernandez Chacon
CHICAGO, IL, October 4, 2026, The Youth Peace & Justice Foundation, also known as The Uvalde Foundation For Kids, has launched an individual memorial fundraiser for 7-year-old Edimari Hernandez Chacon following her fatal stabbing in Chicago’s Chatham neighborhood on Saturday.
The Foundation, a national youth advocacy and violence-prevention nonprofit founded after the May 24, 2022 tragedy at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, said its response will include support through its Trees for Peace initiative, a living memorial effort for young victims of violence. The organization also said it is beginning outreach to law enforcement as the investigation continues.
Edimari was seven years old.
According to police and local reporting, Edimari was walking along a neighborhood sidewalk shortly before noon Saturday when a woman approached her and stabbed her multiple times in the back with a sharp object. She was taken to Comer Children’s Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
The circumstances surrounding the attack remain under investigation, including the motive and whether Edimari and the suspect were known to one another.
The Foundation has opened a memorial response for Edimari
The Youth Peace and Justice Foundation Launches Memorial Fundraiser for Edimari Hernandez Chacon as part of a broader effort to remember her life and support a community shaken by violence against a child.
The Foundation said the individual fundraiser will help carry out its response and planned memorial through Trees for Peace. The initiative creates living memorials for young victims of violence, offering families and neighborhoods a lasting place to gather, grieve, and remember.
The effort is both practical and symbolic. In the immediate aftermath of violence, families and communities often need help with urgent needs, public remembrance, and communication with local systems. Over time, grief changes shape. A living memorial can become a place where that grief has somewhere to go.
The Foundation’s response is expected to include:
A memorial fundraiser created specifically for Edimari
A planned living memorial through Trees for Peace
Recognition efforts connected to her life and memory
Outreach to law enforcement while the case remains under investigation
Continued advocacy around violence affecting children and young people
The organization has framed the effort around remembrance, care, and the need to ensure that children lost to violence are not reduced to the circumstances of their deaths.
“Seven years old. That is what keeps coming back to me,” said Daniel Chapin, Founder and President of the Foundation.
Those words reflect the center of the story. Edimari was a child. Her name, her age, and her life are the reason for the memorial effort.
What is known about the Chatham attack
Police and local reporting have identified the incident as a fatal stabbing that took place shortly before noon Saturday in Chicago’s Chatham neighborhood.
Edimari was reportedly walking along a neighborhood sidewalk when a woman approached and attacked her with a sharp object. She suffered multiple stab wounds to the back and was taken to Comer Children’s Hospital. She was later pronounced dead.
Authorities have not publicly resolved key questions about the attack. The motive remains under investigation. It is also not yet clear whether Edimari and the suspect knew one another.
Because the investigation is ongoing, the Foundation’s public response has focused on Edimari’s memory and on the broader harm caused when violence reaches children in ordinary places, including sidewalks, neighborhoods, and routes that should feel safe.
The case has drawn deep concern not only because of the violence itself, but because of Edimari’s age. She was a young child in a public neighborhood setting, and her death has left a painful question for families and residents: how can a child be safer in the everyday spaces around home, school, and community?
That question does not have a simple answer. It belongs to law enforcement, city leaders, neighbors, child advocates, schools, families, and nonprofits that work with youth. It also belongs to the public, which decides whether the loss of a child becomes a passing headline or a call to sustained care.
Trees for Peace creates living places of remembrance
The Youth Peace & Justice Foundation’s Trees for Peace initiative creates living memorials for young victims of violence. Instead of a temporary tribute that fades within days, a tree grows over time and remains rooted in the community.
Living memorials can serve several purposes at once.
They give families a physical place to visit. They give neighbors a shared symbol of care. They help communities remember the name of a child without forcing that child’s story to be defined by a final act of violence.
A tree is not a solution to violence. It does not erase grief or answer the questions families carry. But it can mark a commitment to remember. It can also create a quiet public space for reflection, especially in cases where the sudden loss of a child leaves a community stunned.
For children killed by violence, public remembrance matters. Names can disappear quickly from the news cycle. Families may feel that the world moves on while their loss remains. Memorial efforts can help prevent that erasure by keeping attention on the child’s life, not only the crime.
In Edimari’s case, the Foundation said the fundraiser will support the response and planned memorial. The living memorial is expected to be part of the organization’s Trees for Peace work, which centers young victims and the communities left behind.
A living memorial may also help children and families in the neighborhood process what happened. When violence occurs close to home, it changes how people move through familiar places. A memorial can offer a gentler point of contact, one connected to remembrance rather than fear.
The Foundation’s work began after Uvalde
The Youth Peace & Justice Foundation, also known as The Uvalde Foundation For Kids, describes itself as a national youth advocacy and violence-prevention nonprofit. It was founded following the May 24, 2022 tragedy at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.
The Foundation responds when children and young people are affected by violence. Its work includes crisis support, emergency assistance, advocacy, prevention, and memorial efforts.
That mission places the organization at the intersection of grief and public action. When a child is harmed or killed, families may face immediate emotional, financial, and logistical strain. Communities may need help organizing a respectful response. Advocates may push for safety conversations that continue after the first wave of attention fades.
The Foundation’s model recognizes that youth violence is not only a law enforcement issue. It is also a family crisis, a community trauma, and a public responsibility.
Its response to Edimari’s death follows that pattern. The fundraiser is meant to support the memorial effort and the Foundation’s planned response. The outreach to law enforcement signals that the organization is also watching the investigation and seeking communication with those handling the case.
Still, the Foundation’s public focus remains on Edimari. The memorial effort is named for her, built around her memory, and tied to the idea that children deserve recognition beyond headlines.
Why remembrance matters after violence against children
When a child dies violently, public conversation often moves quickly toward the details of the case. People ask who did it, why it happened, where it happened, and whether warning signs were missed. Those questions matter, especially for investigators and public safety leaders.
But remembrance answers a different need.
It says the child had a name. It says the child belonged to people. It says the measure of the loss is not limited to a police report or a court record.
For communities, remembrance can also be a form of resistance against numbness. Repeated exposure to violent news can make people feel powerless. A memorial offers a concrete act of care, even when the larger problems feel overwhelming.
In cases involving young children, the need for care is especially urgent. Children depend on adults to protect the spaces around them. When a child is killed in a neighborhood setting, the harm spreads beyond one family. Parents may feel fear. Children may overhear details they cannot process. Neighbors may carry guilt, anger, or shock.
A respectful public memorial cannot carry all of that pain, but it can help hold some of it.
The Foundation’s Trees for Peace initiative reflects that belief. By planting or creating a living tribute, the work ties memory to time. Seasons change. Leaves grow. The memorial remains.
What happens next
The investigation into Edimari’s death remains active. Authorities continue to examine the circumstances of the attack, including motive and any possible connection between Edimari and the suspect.
The Foundation is beginning its response while those questions remain unresolved. That response includes the Edimari memorial fundraiser, the planned Trees for Peace memorial, and outreach to law enforcement.
At this stage, the Foundation has not announced additional public details about the memorial location, timing, or related recognition activities. Those details may depend on communication with the family, community members, and local partners.
For now, the Foundation is asking the public to remember Edimari by name and to recognize the depth of the loss. A 7-year-old child was killed in a neighborhood setting. Her community is grieving. Her life deserves to be acknowledged with dignity.
Public attention can be brief, especially when violent incidents are reported in quick succession. Memorial work asks people to slow down. It gives a child’s name room to remain present after the first news reports pass.
How the public can respond with care
The Foundation has launched an individual memorial fundraiser for Edimari to support its response and planned living memorial. Because no public link is included here, those wishing to contribute should look for the Foundation’s official fundraiser titled Support Edimari’s Memorial Fundraiser through the organization’s verified channels.
People can also respond with care by sharing Edimari’s name respectfully, avoiding rumors about the investigation, and allowing law enforcement to confirm facts as they become available.
In moments like this, accuracy matters. So does compassion. Speculation can deepen harm for a grieving family and community. Respectful remembrance keeps attention where it belongs, on the child whose life was taken and on the people now living with that loss.
The Youth Peace & Justice Foundation’s memorial effort for Edimari Hernandez Chacon is a call to remember a child, support a grieving community, and create a lasting place where her name will not be forgotten.
