Club Charley’s in Pocatello holds vigil for Orlando shooting victims
Club Charley’s in Pocatello held a vigil Sunday to honor those killed and injured in the Orlando shooting.
The club, normally closed on Sundays, opened at 3 p.m. for customers to come in. At 4 p.m. there was a moment of silence for the victims. The bar remained open after the moment of silence for a few hours for customers to come in, drop something at the vigil, and buy a drink if they wanted to.
In just a few hours, the bar made about $120. All of the money made will go to help the Orlando shooting victims.
The owner said it was last minute and they could really only get the word out on Facebook. As a result, there weren’t as many people as they hoped, but they did still have several people stopping by to leave flowers. A few continued to come throughout the night adding flowers to the memorial.
Those who came out to put flowers down or a buy something to go toward helping the victims said it was a great cause and a great effort by the bar to help get the community united.
“I really condemn what happened last night and we all need to wake up and start appreciating each other, loving each other, and value each other,” said Sanju Choudhury, who came out to support the cause.
Lori Isenhart said she also thought it was a great effort and that she hopes this a way to discourage something like Orlando happening in the Pocatello community.
“They’re doing what they can do and that’s amazing,” Isenhart said. “It breaks my heart that it needs to be done. You know I thought maybe the world has come a little bit farther than this but apparently we still have a long ways to go.”
“This is not what we are looking for in America,” Choudhury said. “In America, when we come in, we know that we are secure, that we are safe. We feel proud about this country and we need to condemn this and we need to stop this hatred of any kind.”
Club Charley’s will be having a free hot dog social as another fundraiser for the victims. It will be at the club Monday night from 8 p.m. until midnight.
