- April 24, 2024
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Katherine Orfinger was having a sleepover with her friends June 11, many of them also from the Gay-Straight Alliance Club at Daytona State College where she is a freshman. What was a fun, carefree youthful memory quickly turned into some more tragic when they were awoken by a text from one of their friends' moms about the shooting at Pulse, a gay bar in Orlando that killed 49 people.
"She texted them to see if they were okay, and we all woke up," the Ormond Beach resident said. "We were crying and praying, it was a mess all morning. We called all our friends and thank God no one we know was hurt. We just have a friend of a friend of a friend we're waiting to hear back on."
Orfinger was one of the many local residents who were turned away from the OneBlood Ormond Beach Donation Center, 410 S. Nova Road Suite 3, who was at full capacity before the day even began. Though the center is usually open for walk-ins, they had 50 appointments to get through in eight hours they were open.
"They've turned so many people away," one donor who wished to remain anonymous commented.
Allie Eddy was one of the 50 that made an appointment to donate to help the victims who were injured in Saturday's shooting because it could just have easily been her.
"It really hits home because of how close Orlando is to here," she said. "A lot of us know people know people who hang out at this club. There's nothing else we can do, so we try to do what we can."
Another future donor, Jay, said he had friends at club that night who managed to escape.
"They ran out the back and jumped the fences," he said. "They were very lucky. It's scary it happened so close to home."
"These people, they're my people, my family," Orfinger said. "I just feel like I need to do my part."
Driveway vigils
During all the chaos that ensued on everyone's Facebook newsfeeds this past weekend, Ormond Beach resident Kahlin Grant didn't think anyone would see her post about putting a candle at the end of her driveway in honor of the Orlando shooting victims.
"So many people who were scared, angry, getting political and negative," she said, "I just thought we should do something positive to acknowledge the victims."
Her post got 13 shares and many of her friends sent her pictures of their candles — an idea Grant got after seeing a friend from Orlando, where she used to live, do something similar.
"Orlando really is in our backyard."
