Local restaurants provide banquet room, free buffet meal for families of shooting victims

Community rallies together to help families

ORLANDO, Fla. – The Orlando community is coming together to help the families and victims who have been impacted by the shooting that killed 49 and left more than 50 injured in Orlando early Sunday morning.

One Blood put out an urgent call for blood donations, especially Type O, in Orlando.

Recommended Videos



The blood center stopped taking donations by 5 p.m. on Sunday and has asked anyone to call 888-936-6283 to make appointments over the next several days, when blood supplies will need to be replenished.

A local cemetery is offering a memorial area to the victims and one burial space with opening and closing charges for free. The family is encouraged to come to call the Greenwood Cemetery office at (407) 246-2616. 

"All victims that choose Greenwood Cemetery will be buried adjacent to each other. The area will be on the NW side of the cemetery visible from Anderson Street and has a view of downtown," Don Price, from Greenwood Cemetery said. 

Local churches in the community are helping victims by providing counseling services, facilities and water to those in need.

Metro Church is offering its facilities for families to use free of charge to host funerals.

"We would like to extend the use of building and our services to any of the families and friends that have had their lives disrupted by the tragedy this weekend in downtown Orlando," Seth Cain, pastor of Metro Church, said in a Facebook post.

Forest Lake Seventh-Day Adventist Church in Apopka is also offering to host funeral services and stream the service free of charge.  Anyone who is interested is urged to call (407) 869-0680. 

Northland Church will offer its facilities or clerical and worship support, if needed. Anyone that is in need of assistance is urged to call Sharon Ferreira at (407) 949-7189. 

At least one other church in the Orlando community is offering its building to host a funeral service free of charge.

News 6 reached out to Northland Church, which has a blog post of "Love in Action" that describes how the church community can help.

"We are grieving and traumatized, but determined to build a better and closer community out of this,"said Dr. Joel C. Hunter, senior pastor of Northland, A Church Distributed.

The Oviedo Counseling Center, a partner of Northland Church, is offering services on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. Anyone in need of counseling services is urged to call (321) 244-3576 to make an appointment.

The Compassionate Friends, Inc. is a national organization that provides support  to grieving families for the death of a child, grandchild or sibling at any age.Their services are free and they have three chapters close to Orlando.

They have three English and Spanish-speaking volunteers who can be reached at (321) 439-4986.

Action Church is also sending teams to fire stations, police departments and hospitals in the area to provide meals for first responders.

Members of the church were helping families and loved ones by providing water and walking with families as they exited the hospital on Monday.

"We wanted to be a little bit of light in a dark day in their life," Justin Dailey, lead pastor of Action Church, said.

In an effort to help the families of the victims of the Pulse nightclub shooting, Golden Corral restaurants are offering to host receptions following the funeral services for the victims.

Twelve greater Orlando area Golden Corral restaurants are offering their banquet rooms and a free buffet meal.

“The entire world has been deeply shaken by this unspeakable tragedy and the emotions are the strongest here in Orlando,” said Eric Holm, president of Metro Corral Partners and owner of all 12 area Golden Corrals.

“We are just trying to do a small part in helping people in the Orlando area get through this difficult time.”

Families who would like more information or would like to reserve a banquet room at one of the restaurants can call Eric Holm at 407-810-6371 or Christy Kimmel at 407-629-9311, ext. 204.

Two airlines, Jet Blue and Allegiant, are helping the community by providing free flights to family members of the victims.

"If you, your family, or friends were affected by what happened this weekend, we want to help. Whether you need to fly to or from the Orlando area, please write into us at communications@allegiantair.com and tell us," Allegiant Airlines posted on Facebook.

"JetBlue is providing free seats on its available flights to/from Orlando for immediate family and domestic partners of victims who were killed or injured. Those family members and domestic partners requiring travel assistance can contact 1-800-JETBLUE for details," Doug McGraw from JetBlue Airways said. 

Stay with ClickOrlando.com for more on this developing story. 


Recommended Videos