AURORA, Colo. — News of Wednesday night's mass shooting in Maine is tough for anyone to hear.
For Coloradans, the horror of mass shootings is all too familiar. Now, those who've dealt with this kind of tragedy are once again offering their support to make sure families and the community in Maine know they're not forgotten.
"It's not just a number. These are people that had beautiful lives, beautiful families, beautiful friends that are grieving right now," said Heather Dearman, CEO of the 7/20 Memorial Foundation.
For those like Dearman who've been impacted by a mass shooting, the constant stream of mass shootings can be tougher still.
"Every time one of these shootings happens, it takes me a couple of days before I can even start reading the stories of the people who were lost. And that's what always breaks my heart the most," Dearman said.
Heather's cousin Ashley was inside the Aurora theater in 2012 with her 6-year-old daughter Veronica. Her cousin Ashley was pregnant at the time.
When the gunman went in, Ashley was shot and paralyzed. Veronica and Ashley's unborn child were both killed.
"When that tragedy happened, our family was overwhelmed with grief and chaos and shock," Dearman said.
Over the years, they created a lasting memorial for the victims at the 7/20 Memorial Foundation Reflection Garden near city hall in Aurora. Inside the garden, there are 83 cranes - one for each person hurt or killed that night.
"Once the memorial was built and we saw how often these tragedies happened, we wanted to pay the love forward and support other communities who have gone through the same," Dearman said.
Now, through the 7/20 Memorial Foundation, Heather and countless members of the Aurora community fold paper cranes, each with a message of love and support, turning them into wreaths to be sent out to communities impacted by a mass shooting.
"This wreath is the one we're sending to Morgan State for what happened there," Dearman said. "You can see, there’s so many beautiful cranes that come together with little messages of love and support on it."
But with so many mass shootings and so much devastation happening constantly in this country, it can be hard to keep going.
"I remember a time when I was boxing up four wreaths because a lot of tragedies had happened in Texas," Dearman said. "And that day when I was boxing them up, another horrific shooting happened and I remember feeling so lost and frustrated, thinking how could I possibly ask our community to do this again? Here I am sending out four wreaths and another has happened, and at that very moment, our postman came up with some mail. In there was a note from the Tree of Life Synagogue telling us it meant so much for them to receive that wreath and it gave them hope and peace. And so at that moment, we knew we had to keep doing this."
"The shootings keep happening, and we know how that community must feel like they were forgotten about, and for them to receive a wreath in that time reminds them that they aren't forgotten," Dearman said.
That desire to remind communities they're not forgotten keeps them going and keeps them folding, ready to send their love with each wreath.
"It's never-ending, and that's just a metaphor for love. You never don't have enough. It's always there and it always replenishes, so we just hope that gives people hope," Dearman said.
The 7/20 Memorial Foundation has put out a call to the community for messages of love and support to be folded into paper cranes that will be turned into wreaths for the community in Lewiston, Maine.
To be a part of this project, all you need is origami paper and an open heart. The 7/20 Memorial Foundation said there are three ways to help:
Send paper cranes via mail to:
7-20 Memorial Foundation
15151 E. Alameda Pkwy
Aurora, CO 80012
At the Aurora History Museum:
Drop cranes off or make one at the crane station at the Aurora History Museum at 15051 E. Alameda Pkwy.
Via social media:
Write a comment on the 7/20 Memorial Foundation Facebook or Instagram page and the foundation will put it on a crane to add to the wreath.
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