Ricky Martin To Help Raise Money For New Pulse Shooting Memorial
Ricky Martin is the new national spokesperson for the onePULSE Foundation. The organization’s new OUTLOVE HATE campaign has teamed up with Martin to hopefully raise $49 million for an Orlando memorial and museum dedicated to the Orlando Pulse shooting’s 49 victims.
“I’m excited to assist onePULSE Foundation with engagement and awareness-building opportunities as they build the National Pulse Memorial & Museum,” Ricky Martin told onePULSE. “I ask everyone to join our movement, commit to change and share the love, starting on Valentine’s Day.”
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The interim Pulse memorial is currently open in Orlando, but onePULSE plans to replace it with a permanent memorial and museum in 2022. The memorial will “… be a place of education, housing artifacts for the Pulse tragedy, memorials, and reflections of the global response of love that came in the weeks and months that followed the tragedy,” according to their website.
To design the museum, onePULSE hosted an international design competition for architects all over the world. The winning design, selected from 68 submissions, features a garden with a reflecting pool and a palette of 49 colors and a museum with an open-air design and a public plaza. There will also be 49 trees planted in the garden to honor the victims.
Also included in the memorial plans are 49 legacy scholarships for students across the country. Each scholarship is based on one of the shooting’s “angels” and coincides with their interests. There are scholarships for cosmetology, business, fire sciences, and healthcare, among others.
Martin and the OUTLOVE HATE campaign hope to receive donations of $49 from 1,000,000 different people to reach their goal of $49 million. The organization also gives donors the opportunity to have their portrait featured on the onePULSE website and on permanent display at the museum in Orlando.
“We are thrilled to have one of the best-selling international music artists of all time join our Pulse family as a national spokesperson,” said Earl Crittenden, the board chair of onePULSE, regarding Martin’s role. “His global platform allows us to share our mission with even more audiences, ensuring Pulse’s legacy of love lives on forever.”
