AURORA | Tensions flared Wednesday night during a meeting between victims of the Aurora theater shooting and officials overseeing the more than $5 million victim relief fund.
The two sides have been at odds for weeks over how the money will be doled out, what role victims will play in the decision-making process and why the bulk of the fund hasn’t reached victims six weeks after the shootings.
Wednesday’s meeting at Aurora Central Library was the second meeting of the 7/20 Recovery Committee — which includes officials from the city of Aurora, Community First Foundation, victims and others — since several victims came forward with complaints about the process last month. The group is scheduled to meet again Saturday.
Melisa Cowden, whose ex-husband Gordon Cowden was killed in the theater, said the meeting was heated and at times turned into a “gripe fest.”
Cowden, whose children were in the theater with their father that night but unharmed, said the meeting saw some progress, including a decision to survey victims about how they’d like to see the fund divided among the wounded, killed, and others who were in the theater that night.
Much of the victim’s ire has been directed at Marla Williams, the CEO and founder of Community First. The foundation GivingFirst.org program was tabbed to administer the official victim relief fund after the shooting, and the fund has grown to more than $5 million since.
Cowden said victims are frustrated because there has been a lack of transparency from Community First. At Thursday’s meeting, victims had to ask several times just to find out how much money was in the fund, Cowden said.
“(Williams) is causing so much angst and so much hardship and pain for the 12 families and now for other people that are victims,” Cowden said.
Williams is one of nine people on the 7/20 group’s executive committee, which is overseeing how the fund will be distributed.
Cowden said she’d like to see Williams removed from the committee, and more victim representatives added to it.
“I think it’s imperative, absolutely imperative, that Giving First representatives and Community First representatives are removed from that board immediately, that they are removed from anything involving the Aurora victims, period,” she said.
Williams wasn’t immediately available for comment Thursday.
Caitlin Jenney, a spokeswoman for Community First, said accountability is important to the group, and pointed to the Community First website, which includes a chart with the fund’s balance and distributions. The site is updated weekly, she said.
She also pointed out that Community First doesn’t take any administration fees to manage the fund and even pays credit card fees for online donors.
Since a gunman opened fire July 20 the Century Aurora 16 theater, killing 12 and wounded 58, about $450,000 from the fund has been doled out — $5,000 to each of the 70 victims or their families, and another $100,000 to several nonprofits working with victims.
Amid criticism from some of the victims this week, officials affiliated with the 7/20 group said they have always planned to have victim representation on the board, but are still working out what that representation will look like.
according to whats in the article,theres money to make distribuations of 50 k to each family and/or victim and have 50k left so whats the problem with sending it out
according to whats in the article theres enough to give each family or victim 70k