Our story
Origin — Parkland, 2018.
We live here. The shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas was not a story on the news for us — it happened down the road from our families. Everything we've built since is an answer to that day.
The first install
The first installation, Heron Heights Elementary.
On February 14, 2018, a former student walked into Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland and killed seventeen people. In the weeks that followed, while the community was still absorbing what had happened, we began asking a question that a lot of parents in Broward County were asking: if the building had been harder, would the day have looked different.
We had the engineering to test that question. Ballistic glazing. Laminate systems. Install crews. What we did not have was a client who needed it more than Heron Heights Elementary, a public school six minutes from MSD, where the children who had just lost siblings and cousins and parents were returning to class.
We installed ballistic glazing at Heron Heights at no cost. It was our first job. It was a donation.
Institutional record
August 7, 2018 — The School Board voted to accept.
On August 7, 2018, the School Board of Broward County, Florida, formally accepted the donation as agenda item JJ-17. The recording below is from that public meeting.
- Body
- School Board of Broward County, Florida
- Date
- August 7, 2018
- Agenda item
- JJ-17
- Action
- Donation accepted
What followed
MSD, Eagles' Haven, and the Foundation.
In 2019 we returned to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School itself and donated ballistic glazing there as well. The school that started this work for us did not pay for the install.
The same year, through a partnership with JAFCO Children's Foundation and the South Florida Jewish community, we donated the glazing at Eagles' Haven — the community wellness center in Coral Springs that serves families affected by the MSD shooting.
It became obvious that the donations could not stay ad hoc. We established the Ballistiglass Charitable Foundation in 2019 as a 501(c)(3) so the work could be repeatable — so the next school or congregation that reached out would not have to choose between doing the install and making payroll.
Since 2018.
- Feb 14, 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas
- Aug 7, 2018 Broward County School Board approves the donation (item JJ-17)
- 2018 Heron Heights Elementary, Parkland — donated install
- 2019 Marjory Stoneman Douglas HS — donated install
- 2019 Eagles' Haven with JAFCO — donated install
- 2019 Ballistiglass Charitable Foundation established (501(c)(3), EIN 84-4475338)
- Ongoing Temple Kol Tikvah · Holocaust Memorial of Miami Beach · and the work continues
Where the products go.
Everything we build — BallistiMAX, the RetroKIT, BallistiSCAN — is engineered for the places those families gather. Schools, sanctuaries, community centers, public buildings. That has not changed since the first donation.