To honor slain cousin, a Pulse survivor helps mass shooting survivors

Her godsister, Benita Dowdell-Price, said in an interview with the Orlando Sentinel that Parker would often ask why she was spared in the shooting. But, she said, speaking with other survivors through VictimsFirst gave Parker a purpose.

“I was very much concerned about it until I saw her actually do it and it became therapeutic for her,” she said. “This is why she’s still supposed to be here.”

In an epiphany, Parker began advocacy work in 2019, which led her to Jeff Dion, executive director of the Mass Violence Survivors Fund. That organization works in conjunction with VictimsFirst — the latter aids in the immediate aftermath of a shooting and the fund delivers community donations to survivors and families of victims.

In 2021, Parker served on committees Dion oversaw for other shootings, like Buffalo and Oxford. There, she offered a survivor’s opinion while fellow committee members determined how to distribute funds to the communities.

“(Parker) more than other committee members would engage in direct contact with survivors,” Dion said.

Later that year, VictimsFirst co-founder Anita Busch invited Parker to join her organization. When there’s a shooting, the VictimsFirst members available at the time flock to the site to evaluate what the community needs, which often depends on the actual location.

In Uvalde, Texas, where a gunman shot and killed 19 kids and two adults, VictimsFirst volunteers focused on in-person conversations and bills that had to be handled in paper form because of a lack of Wi-Fi in the rural environment.

But after the Club Q shooting in Colorado Springs, Parker remembered the community there expressing a greater interest in mental health services than some of the other sites she’s visited.

Parker appreciates the authenticity of both VictimsFirst and the Mass Violence Survivors Fund. Having returned to Philadelphia after the shooting, she said it was difficult determining which Orlando-based groups seeking to commemorate the Pulse tragedy were worthwhile.

“I was so tired of different organizations asking me, ‘We would love to have you on the board,’ just to have my name on the board,” she said.

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