ORLANDO—OneOrlando Fund as well as Equality Florida’s GoFundMe campaign and several other independent efforts have raised over $23 million for the victims of the mass shooting at Pulse Nightclub and their families. After several town hall meetings in Orlando to determine the fund’s priorities, the donations are now being disbursed based on a variety of criteria set up by the fund’s administer, attorney Ken Feinberg.
In the June 12 attack, 49 victims were killed and 53 others injured. One of Feinberg’s biggest obstacles is the bickering over same-sex family claims competing with those of birth family demands.
“We aren’t going to get into family arguments about the distribution of money. Work it out,” Feinberg said, suggesting that families go to probate court to determine a designated administrator. “We can’t get in the middle of this,” Feinberg said.
Additionally, there were a large number of deceased victims who have relatives outside the U.S. mainland. About half of 49 patrons who were killed had ties to Puerto Rico, and others came from Mexico, Colombia, the Dominican Republic and Guatemala.
Victims and their families who feel they are entitled to a portion of the proceeds from the donation drive are asked to register and fill out paperwork at www.oneorlando.org.
Feinberg is the founder of Feinberg Rozen Llp, has been responsible for overseeing payouts in the September 11 Victim Compensation Fund, the Boston Marathon Bombing victims, as well as payouts in the Agent Orange settlement.
The members of the OneOrlando board of directors represents the diversity of the city and includes LGBT activists as well as a number of Latinos.
Equality Florida, the GLBT Community Center of Central Florida (The Center) and the National Compassion Fund announced a partnership with OneOrlando to ensure that funds collected are disbursed in a unified process.
We were just overwhelmed with the amount of emails and messages asking: ‘What can we do?'” said Ida V. Eskamani, who oversees regional fundraising at Equality Florida in Orlando, which defends rights of lesbians, gays, bisexual and transgender people.
- Rena Langley, Senior Vice President, Public Affairs & Worldwide Government and Industry Relations, Walt Disney World
- Diane O’Dell, Vice President of Community Relations, Universal Orlando Resort
- Stephanie Ghertner, Director, Darden Foundation & Community Affairs
- Mark Meyer, Industry Manager, JPMorgan Chase
- Paul F. Bryan, Chief Executive Officer, Grover Bryan, Inc.
- Jennifer Foster, Owner and Executive Producer, Foster Productions, Inc.
- Diana Bolivar, President, Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Metro Orlando
- Carlos Carbonell, Chief Executive Officer, Echo Interaction Group
- Ken Robinson, President and Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Phillips Inc. and The Dr. P. Phillips Foundation
- Mark Shamley, President and Chief Executive Officer, Association of Corporate Contributions Professionals (ACCP)
- Michael Farmer, Statewide Deputy Director of Development, Equality Florida Action, Inc.
- Tim Vargas, Board President, GLBT Community Center of Central Florida (The Center)
- Chris McCullion, Chief Financial Officer, City of Orlando
- Walter G. Hawkins, Director of Urban Development, City of Orlando Downtown Development Board/Community Redevelopment Agency
