Pulse during the onePulse Foundation’s 6th CommUnity Rainbow Run. (Photo by Jeremy Williams)
ORLANDO | In its final message to its donors and the press, onePULSE Foundation sent a statement providing updates on the city’s plans to take over management of several of the foundation’s programs as well as what is next for the Pulse Memorial.
“A few weeks ago, the City of Orlando took ownership of the Pulse site, with a goal of creating a permanent memorial for the 49 Angels taken on June 12, 2016,” the statement reads. “Since then, Mayor Dyer has met with members of the onePULSE Foundation Board to understand the impacts of the organization’s dissolution and learn more about the work done to date on the memorial.”
The foundation goes on in the statement to say that the board will be sharing its memorial design work and overview of its initiatives beyond the memorial with the city.
For the city’s part, the statement announced the creation of the Orlando United Pulse Memorial Fund, which would allow people to contribute toward the memorial. The city will also take over two of the foundation’s popular events for 2024 — the Annual Remembrance Ceremony and the CommUNITY Rainbow Run, which will be in partnership with the UCF DeVos Sport Business Management Program.
As the city works to create a permanent memorial at the site of the Pulse nightclub, it “remains committed to working with the families of the victims and the survivors to ensure that the memorial honors the lives taken, those impacted by the tragedy and pays tribute to the resiliency of Orlando.” The statement goes on to say that the city is finalizing a process that will engage and communicate with the victims’ families, survivors and first responders as part of that process.
In October, the City of Orlando announced it was moving forward with purchasing the Pulse property for a reported $2 million after it was revealed that talks between the foundation and the club owners for the property had broken down. The foundation announced less than a month later that it would be dissolving.
Speaking with members of the media, Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer said he would like to see a permanent memorial in place by the Pulse tragedy’s 10-year mark of June 12, 2026.
The city has created a website to provide updates on the Pulse memorial.
