ALLEN, Texas — The memorial at the south entrance to Allen Premium Outlets will remain in place at least through Sunday, perhaps as long as next Tuesday, volunteers at the site tell WFAA. And volunteers are there around the clock keeping flowers, and hope, alive.
“It’s been hard. And every day we cry. All of us cry,” said Candace Cardwell a volunteer whose help was enlisted by Cheryl Jackson of Minnie’s Food Pantry in Plano, self-appointed to lead a team tending to the memorial of flowers, crosses and stuffed animals.
“You leave here crying every night” Cardwell said.
Since Wednesday, Shannon Alexander has been here too.
“And it made me feel like this is the place I was supposed to be. And I didn’t want to leave,” Alexander said.
They’ve watched as the memorial, on a small patch of grass behind a hotel and next to one of the still-blocked entrances to the outlet mall, has become the only place where families of the victims, shooting survivors and complete strangers can have a place to grieve, to find comfort, and to pray. Hundreds attended a vigil Wednesday night at the site.
“Just trying to come out here and do what the bible says, you know: to be love,” said Pastor Richard Scotman of the Church of Dallas at McKinney. He has been among multiple pastors offering to pray, and offering a shoulder to cry on, for anyone who asks.
The management company for the outlet mall told WFAA earlier this week that they are committed to keeping the outlet mall closed at least until all of the funeral and memorial services for the victims have been held.
But outside the mall, on a corner near Stacy Road, volunteers will tell you a remarkable thing has been happening every day: the exact opposite of what a deranged gunman was allegedly trying to achieve.
“I think that as a community, we need each other. And I like to help and the need is here,” said Cardwell.
“I have seen so many people from different walks of life, different colors, races, religions. And it’s been about community and togetherness, not about color,” added Alexander.
“We’ve seen white, black…we’re all coming together, said Pastor Scotman. “And it’s a powerful thing when you see so much hate in the world.”
Hundreds of toys and stuffed animals are also among the offerings that people have left at the memorial. Volunteers say they are being boxed up and protected from the weather until they can be donated -- either to the victim families, or worthy organizations that can provide them to other children.