The first anniversary of the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history was Monday.
The Pulse nightclub was well-known among LGBT communities around the state, including here on the First Coast.
Mike Vatter, 40, lives in Jacksonville. He’d been out that night celebrating a friend’s birthday and didn’t learn of the massacre until the next morning.
“My dad called me from Orlando — well, central Florida. He lives near Orlando," he said. "And he called me and he said, ‘I know you’re not here. I just need to hear your voice and know that you’re okay. ’”
Vatter took today off from work to help out at St. Johns Lutheran Church in Springfield, where tables set up in the narthex held rainbow bracelets, Pulse remembrance buttons and pamphlets as well as bottled water, cookies and other snacks for people who wanted a quiet place to come and reflect.
St. Johns Pastor Victoria Hamilton said it was her co-pastor husband William’s idea to throw the church doors wide open today.
“Whatever they need to do they can do in the space because it is a safe place to come and to heal as well,” he said.
St. Johns on Silver Street in Jacksonville is a designated “Reconciling in Christ” Lutheran church for its affirmation and acceptance of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender worshippers.
Cyd Hoskinson can be reached at choskinson@wjct.org, 904-358-6351 and on Twitter @cydwjctnews
