How To Help Capital Gazette Victims, Staff After Shootings

ANNAPOLIS, MD — As Annapolis reels from the mass shooting that targeted the Capital Gazette newspaper office by an alleged gunman described as "malevolent" and "obsessively angry" about a newspaper story on his harassment conviction years ago, the community is rallying to cope.

Vigils are set for Friday night, and weekend church services will mourn the five employees who were killed. And at least two fundraisers have been set up to accept donations for the victims, their families, and the staff, while an Annapolis reader is urging people to make a difference by subscribing to their local newspaper.

A local fundraiser has been established to help the families, victims and survivors of the mass shooting at the Capital Gazette, the newspaper's owner said Friday. The Capital Gazette Families Fund will be managed through the Community Foundation of Anne Arundel County, and the Michael and Jacky Ferro Family Foundation will match up to $1 million of donations, according to tronc, the parent company of The Baltimore Sun Media Group, which includes the Capital.

Michael Ferro is the largest shareholder of tronc, and the former non-executive chairman of the company.
In a letter to the company, tronc chairman and CEO Justin Dearborn said the victims would forever be remembered as "outstanding people and journalists who we will continue to honor."

The fund is described this way on the foundation website: In honor of the Capital Gazette victims, their colleagues, and their families in Annapolis, MD, this fund has been established to provide immediate relief and long-term recovery support to those individuals directly and indirectly affected by the tragedy. Grants can be applied to grief and trauma counseling, medical expenses not covered by insurance, funeral expenses, and other associated expenses and services.

Red Red Wine Bar posted on its signboard that the proceeds of all its sales this weekend will be given to help the families of the victims.

Bloomberg Government reporter Madi Alexander started a GoFundMe page to help the shooting victims. The fund had received about $153,000 in donations by late Friday afternoon.

"Journalists at the paper are reporting on the deaths of their own colleagues. Please give what you can to help the Capital Gazette newsroom and their journalists," Alexander wrote. "Our hearts break for our colleagues in Annapolis and we want to do whatever we possibly can to help them pay for medical bills, funeral costs, newsroom repairs, and any other unforeseen expenses that might arise as a result of this terrible shooting.

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And Annapolis resident Jody Couser is urging everyone in the city to follow her lead and wrap a black band around their newspaper delivery box. "It is only a symbolic gesture, of course, but I think a meaningful one, if all subscribers were to wrap a black band or ribbon around their paper box," she said.

She suggested Annapolis area residents who are not a newspaper subscriber show their support by becoming one. You can sign up here.

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Photo by Patch Editor Elizabeth Janney