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“You do not want to be a victim in this country.” ~ Tom Teves, father of Aurora theater shooting victim Alex Teves

More than 70 victims of mass killings from the last 20 years and their families — many connected to the Aurora theater shooting and the Columbine massacre — have come together to prevent fundraising organizations from preying on people during the most grievous times of their lives. This is what many people in this nationwide network said happened after a mass tragedy shook their lives.

The group helped form the National Compassion Fund (NCF) in 2013, and they strive to maintain the integrity of donors’ intent to give directly to people harmed. The fund is under the umbrella of the nonprofit organization National Center of Victims of Crime, which helps allow 100 percent of money given to the fund go directly to victims.

The NCF set up its first fund in response to the 2014 Fort Hood shooting that left three people dead. The fund was a success, and now the NCF is taking a stand to protect future victims and to more immediately help Aurora survivors who still have large, unmet needs.

“We’re a family of survivors making sure that victims and survivors in the future don’t get taken advantage of,” said Amar Kaleka, who lost his father, Satwant Kaleka Singh, in the Wisconsin Sikh temple shooting in 2012. Kaleka sits on the board of the NCF.

The NCF sprung from the Aurora, Colo., shootings. On July 20, 2012, a masked man opened fire on a crowded Aurora movie theater, leaving 12 dead and 70 more wounded. The shooter is on trial now and is pleading not guilty by reason of insanity.

After the theater killing spree, Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper called on the Community First Foundation to start collecting money for the victims of the murderous rampage. The Aurora Victim Fund was created and the first $100,000 raised Denver nonprofits and government agencies, such as Aurora Mental Health and the Aurora Chamber of Commerce.

But diverting funds away from injured victims, the group says, is not what Americans intended when they donated. Also, many victims of the crime didn’t live in the Denver area. Many families of the deceased live out-of-state, as do dozens of survivors, some who still face large medical bills for ongoing physical conditions. Three survivors had to convert their post-shooting lives to be fully wheelchair accessible.

Tom Teves, whose son Alex Teves was murdered in the Aurora shooting, and Anita Busch, whose cousin Mikayla Medek died in the theater, called Community First weeks after the massacre to ask for money to meet victims’ immediate needs. Community First advised the two to consult the organization’s mission statement, which said it gives solely to other nonprofits. 

Teves became the spokesman for the 82 named theater victims and their loved ones while Busch worked aggressively behind scenes to bring immediate support to families in need. Teves took their battle to media frontlines in August 2012 and publicly accused Community First of irresponsibly handling the Aurora Victim Fund.

“We’re certain that everyone who has donated their hard-earned wages expected those funds to go directly the the victims,” Teves said in a press conference. “(Community First) used photos of our murdered loved ones to promote the charity, promising the money would go directly to victims. (They) then informed the victims they would receive no checks.”

CU News Corps reached out to the Community First Foundation but the organization declined to discuss the topic.

Eventually, Ken Feinberg, who arbitrated funds for 9/11, the BP oil spill and the Virginia Tech shooting, came to Denver to handle the Aurora Victim Fund. The funds were entirely disbursed by November 2012, but some victims received nothing because of the limitation of funds and the number of people affected by the Aurora catastrophe.

Aurora survivors Stefan Moton, Caleb Medley and Ashley Moser will be in wheelchairs the remainder of their lives. Heather Snyder lost a finger, and Ryan Lumba had his small intestine removed, rendering him unable to eat or exercise normally. Bonnie Kate Zoghbi walks with crutches after nine surgeries on her leg, with more anticipated. Dozens of others experience chronic pain, ongoing anxiety or will require further medical procedures for their injuries.

“You do not want to be a victim in this country,” Teves said, who believes the Aurora fund wouldn’t have been released had they not fought for it.

Zack Meltzer was the first to advise Busch to look into the Aurora funds, “because it happened to us.” Meltzer whose 34-year-old son was taken in the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

“I advised them to fight harder at the beginning,” Meltzer said. “(After 9/11), I felt so alone and helpless. Who was I to fight these big charities?”

Meltzer said that he, along with thousands of others affected by 9/11, were re-victimized by the Red Cross. In the months following the 2001 tragedy, the big-name nonprofit spent $147 million on relief, less than one third of the $543 million that was pledged. , and the Red Cross dispersed most of the remaining funds in the following five years.

The sour fundraising experiences of 9/11 and Aurora are not unique. Eighteen years after the Oklahoma City bombings,  promised various forms of aid while $10 million sat in the Oklahoma City Community Foundation. Victims of the Columbine High School shooting unaffectionately renamed the — the Healing Fund — “the Stealing Fund”. Virginia Tech victims accused the university of keeping hundreds of millions dollars in donations meant for people directly affected by the event.

This is why the NCF formed: to make giving money to people harmed by mass tragedies more transparent, trustworthy and stress-free for donors and recipients. And, above all, they ensure 100 percent of funds go directly to victims.

“We started to build this group, and as we compared notes we saw a pattern,” Scott Larimer said, whose 27-year-old son, Navy Petty Officer Third Class John Larimer, died in the theater shooting.

The NCF formally started after they reached out to the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting. Cristina Hassinger, daughter of Sandy Hook Principal Dawn Hochsprung, is now an active part of the group. Hassinger and victims’ family members of different mass shootings together contacted organizers of funds for those affected by the killings at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina.

Victims said they know best what other victims need. Those directly affected by a mass killing should always have a say in how money is disbursed and spent, and the process of obtaining funds should be simple. This was not the case for Aurora victims and others, who said they had to fight tooth-and-nail to have money released to them.

NCF supporter Eric Mace, whose daughter Ryanne Mace was killed in the 2008 Northern Illinois University shooting, said no one should dictate how victims should heal. He said that, though he felt helpless after losing his only child, he felt empowered by the ability to help others with the donations he received.

“There’s a point at which you feel absolutely helpless,” Mace said. “You couldn’t stop your daughter’s murder. You can’t find the person that did it, you can’t take revenge. But you have this unbelievable fire of energy that you have to do something. That’s the only thing you have to reclaim.”

Caren Teves said people can’t imagine what victims still go through. Aurora victims’ after the shooting, which began again when the  this past spring.  Larimer said that when his wife Googled her own name during a computer course, she was presented with photos of her son’s murderer.

Busch still wonders if Aurora victims received all the money raised on their behalf. The third anniversary of the shooting is next Monday, and people harmed in the theater shooting are still struggling to keep their heads above water financially, she says. The NCF fund is purposed for every person who was in the theater during shooting — whether they were impacted mentally or physically — as well as those who were injured by bullets that penetrated the wall of the neighboring theater.

With closing arguments in the trial this week, NCF members plan to ramp up efforts to refocus the public’s attention on victims’ needs and away from the killer. They hope people will choose to give, knowing with certainty that their donation will directly go to the victims it’s intended for.

To learn more about the NFC’s, visit the site at www.NationalCompassionFund.org

Editor’s note: CU News Corps will honor the victims of this tragedy with every post via this graphic.