Ellie Butler (Swimming & Diving, Vanderbilt University) grew up in Orinda. HelloNation asks student athletes one question about the place that raised them and records the answer on camera. This is Ellie Butler’s, in full.
The question
Tell a story about a moment when your hometown came together or achieved something that made you proud.
The answer, as recorded
Transcript. What follows is a transcript of the video above, in Ellie Butler’s own words. It has not been rewritten, and no part of it was drafted for them.
In 2019, there was a tragedy regarding an Airbnb shooting on Halloween. One of my best friends from middle school lived right next to the area or the house where the shooting had taken place, and it resulted in a lot of injuries and a death. All the citizens were very enraged by it, and people felt very unsafe. In response to that, the whole city came together, especially the parents and a lot of the teenagers. At this time, I was only 14, so I wasn't involved in this, but all the high schoolers all came together and rallied in support of the victims of the shooting. They really rallied together to push for stricter rental laws in our city, stricter Airbnb laws, so that in the future this type of thing wouldn't happen again, hopefully. And I think that's something that's really special about our area, is that people really are passionate about safety and making sure that everyone feels comfortable and make sure that their home feels like home, that they aren't going to fear anything really in our area. I think that that specific instance really shattered a lot of people. I know that my friend and her family felt very scared and unsafe in their home and in their neighborhood, specifically after that incident, but they received a lot of support from neighbors and from other people in my community. Thankfully, now that there are stricter rules in place due to the efforts of everyone coming together in Arenda, I think that that's something that I'm very proud about.
Recorded by HelloNation as part of its athlete voices program and published by Hello Newswire, HelloNation’s good news newswire. The words are the speaker’s own.
Reported by Hello Newswire.