Bike ride honors 1996 school shooting victim Manuel Vela, Jr.
Emilio Vela, the executive director of the nonprofit Communities In Schools of NCW, transformed the pain of a personal and family tragedy into a commitment to help struggling kids and a life-enriching enthusiasm for riding his bicycle.
On Feb. 2, 1996, a 14-year-old Frontier Middle School student in Moses Lake shot and killed classmates Manuel Vela Jr. and Arnold Fritz as well as teacher Leona Caires. A third student was injured but survived.
The memory of that tragedy is still fresh in the mind of Manuel Vela Jr’s uncle, Emilio Vela. His work with the nonprofit has given him the ability to make a difference in the lives of kids. The nonprofit’s mission is to surround students with a community of support and empower them to stay in school and achieve in life.
The day following the tragedy, support groups met with the victims’ families to begin the healing process. When asked what he would miss the most about his son, Manuel Vela Sr. recalled a special memory from a summer vacation through the redwood forest. During that trip, the family saw cyclists riding along the roadside.
At just nine years old, Manuel Jr. turned to his father and asked if they could do the same someday. His father smiled and replied, “Son, you’re still too young for us to ride along the road like that,” Manuel Vela Sr. recalled. But he made a promise to him: When Manuel Jr. turned 15, they would do the bike ride together through the majestic redwoods.
Manuel Jr. would have celebrated his 15th birthday on March 2, 1996—just one month after the shooting. The Vela family came together, including Emilio, to follow through on that commitment by doing that bike ride for several years as a family. “It gave us the opportunity to heal,” Emilio told me. It also launched Emilio’s love affair with riding bicycles.
Emilio is the oldest of five brothers and has two older sisters. Originally from Mexico, the family settled in Moses Lake. Emilio started college in Mexico but transferred and graduated from the University of Washington. He worked for the state for many years, before deciding he could make a bigger difference in the nonprofit sector and landing the job with CISNCW.
Starting in 1998, Emilio participated in the 206-mile Seattle-to-Portland (STP) annual two-day bike ride put on by the Cascade Bicycle Club in Seattle. The last few years, he did the ride in one day, and also started using the bike ride as a fundraiser for local nonprofits.
After not riding STP for nearly two decades, last year Emilio decided to get back in cycling shape and do the ride again to send students on college visits and to raise awareness of the good work being done by CISNCW. The ride is also a way to keep the memory of his nephew alive.
CISNCW partners with schools to help students overcome obstacles. The nonprofit’s on-site school coordinators become invaluable sources of support for students. They’re doing some of the social work that frees up teachers and other school staff to focus on learning. A total of 15 schools in Chelan, Douglas and Grant counties are served by the nonprofit in 2025.
The on-site school coordinators bring life experiences that closely match what kids today are going through. Some of those challenges are academic while others are related to their personal or family situations. CISNCW staff strive to help level the playing field for students so that all kids can succeed and thrive.
Emiio hopes to raise $20,000 this year from donors this year to support the nonprofit’s work exposing students to college campuses in the region. “Once kids see themselves in the campuses, they realize that they can do it if they set their mind and their will to it,” said Emilio.
Emilio’s commitment to making a positive difference in the lives of young people is a direct result of going through the tragedy of losing Emilio’s nephew Manuel Vela Jr. 29 years ago.
To learn more about CISNCW and support Emilio Vela’s ride, check out cisncw.ciswa.org.
