CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (WNCN) — The Uvalde Foundation for Kids, a national non-profit formed in response to the shooting at Robb Elementary School in May 2023, has announced that it will immediately begin recruiting volunteers to help the UNC-Chapel Hill community.

In a news release, the organization said it’s looking for people for its STOP NOW Volunteer School Patrols planned for the university community.

According to the group, the school patrols are grassroots effort by the foundation “to prevent violence from coming onto and disrupting school campuses and endangering student lives” across the country.

STOP NOW team members, who are not armed, participate in planned school perimeter patrols that serve as an “additional level of positive student and community engagement, while also as additional deterrents to potential dangers to students.”

Team members must pass criminal background checks and drug tests. They receive training in situational awareness, CPR and basic intervention techniques.

According to the release, teams do not enter school grounds unless part of the foundation’s on-campus program and do not need or ask for school or district collaboration or permissions.

The Uvalde Foundation for Kids said the groups are modeled after the Guardian Angels community policing unit that existed in New York City in the 1980s.

For information on how to join, visit the foundation’s website.