PARKLAND, Fla. – Now covered in banners with messages of support, the fence surrounding the shuttered building at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where 17 people were fatally shot last year will soon have a new look.
"It just brings back that day. The traumatizing memories of what happened," Broward County School Board member Lori Alhadeff, whose daughter Alyssa, 14, was killed in the shooting, said. "There is a social-emotional need to put a tree-like banner around the fencing that surrounds the 1200 building."
Alhadeff came up with the idea for the new green imagery.
With the help of an anonymous $15,000 donation and $5,000 raised on an online fundraiser, the former building 12 fence will soon be wrapped in images of calming green landscapes.
"I felt that if it could bring one sense of peace and less trauma for a student that this was worth it," Alhadeff said.
Alhadeff said while the current banners and messages are nice, they're tough to pass by every day.
"Reading the different banners, it can trigger students to have feelings bringing back what happened on Feb. 14, 2018," she said.
Alhadeff said the new look is a temporary fix for a heartbreaking eyesore.
"I'm looking forward to the day they knock the building down," she said.
