Lady Gaga Will Fund 162 Classrooms In Gilroy, El Paso, & Dayton After Mass Shootings

Many of Lady Gaga's song lyrics are filled with hope, and now she's transforming those inspirational messages into real-life efforts. After a string of mass shootings in July and August, Lady Gaga announced she'll fund classroom projects in Gilroy, El Paso, and Dayton. The singer said the initiative is her way of channeling "confusion, frustration, and fury into hope."

On Friday, the singer took to Facebook to announce her new philanthropic effort, explaining how her Born This Way Foundation will fully fund more 162 classroom projects in Gilroy, California, El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, three cities that experienced mass shootings within the last two months. By supporting these teachers and their classrooms, Gaga is ensuring countless kids have what they need to succeed this coming school year and beyond. It's a positive beam of light for members of these communities, and Gaga is hopeful her initiative will help those affected in more ways than one.

"Everyone has the right to laws that make them safe in their communities," she wrote in the post that garnered 38,000 likes as of Sunday. "In this moment, I want to help channel my confusion, frustration, and fury into hope. Hope that we are there for each other and for ourselves."

To make the initiative a reality, Gaga partnered with the crowdsourcing website for teachers, Donor's Choose, to fulfill the wish-lists of teachers. And Gaga said her foundation will “fully fund the classroom project needs” in 125 classrooms in El Paso, 23 classrooms in Gilroy, and 14 in Dayton.

Of course, Gaga isn't the only person who can fulfill the needs of these teachers — you can help, too.

Via Gaga's page on Donor's Choose, her fans can help fund various projects throughout the United States. Interested donors can view how many students these projects will reach, what the project is about, and how much money is needed to meet their goals. Fans can donate any amount of money to these projects that Gaga has highlighted, and it's important to note that no matter the size of the project, every bit of money counts.

"I invite you to join me and help ensure young people start their school year with kindness," Gaga wrote on her Donor's Choose page. "Please give with me to support teachers as they bring their students dreams to life."

In just two days since Gaga announced this new effort, fans have raised over $3,200, funded nine projects, and almost 3,000 students have been helped through these efforts, according to Donor's Choose. Imagine how many people will be impacted once Gaga reaches her goal of funding 150 projects.

Although Gaga is choosing to focus on the positives with her efforts, she also made it a point to acknowledge those who are struggling with recent events. "If you see a loved one struggling, please be brave and reach out, remind them its ok to not be ok, and listen to them," she wrote in her Facebook post. "We cannot turn away from ourselves. We cannot turn away from our loved ones. We need each other."

This isn't the first time that Gaga has made an active effort to help others inside of the classroom. In 2018, for instance, Gaga attended the March For Our Lives event to call for stricter gun laws, and even sponsored a bus going from New York City to Washington D.C. so students could attend the main march on the nation's capital.

Not to mention, Gaga's Born This Way Foundation works with teenagers who are in need of emotional support, whether their issue stems from from bullying or help with figuring out their sexuality, to name a few examples. And in 2015, Gaga opened up to Rolling Stone about why her charity is so important to her, stating: "I've suffered through depression and anxiety my entire life, I still suffer with it every single day. I just want these kids to know that the depth that they feel as human beings is normal. We were born that way."

Kids and teachers deserve to feel supported in school, especially where it concerns those affected by gun violence. And I commend Lady Gaga for lending a helping hand to the communities of Gilroy, El Paso, and Dayton during these trying times.