The owner of Pulse nightclub in Orlando announced plans to build a permanent memorial and museum on the building’s grounds to honor the victims of the deadliest mass shooting in modern American history.
Club owner Barbara Poma said the OnePulse Foundation would raise funds to go toward a memorial, community grants for survivors’ families,scholarships and a museum with artifacts and stories of that fatal day.
“We will not let hate win,” said Poma, who founded Pulse in 2004to honor her brother,who died of HIV/AIDS in 1991 .”We will ensure that no one of this generation and the generations to come will ever forget what happened here.” The Pulse shooter, Omar Mateen, was later killed by police.
The mass shooting brought an outpouring of support from around the world. Poma wants the memorial to be part of a “healing initiative” for victims’ families, survivors, and first responders. She had planned to sell the building to the city of Orlando to build a memorial on the site. However, she ultimately decided to lead the memorial construction herself and declined to sell to the city.
“I now know that my role is to ensure Pulse as a place of healing,” she said. Earl Crittenden, the chairman of the OnePulse Foundation, said the charity is accepting donations on its new website to build an “iconic, meaningful” monument. He also announced the foundation’s board of trustees, which includes business executives as well as pop star Lance Bass and former NBA player Jason Collins.
