Alumni from Our Lady of Lourdes Academy held a fundraiser Monday for a fellow alum who was injured in the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando.
It was a message of love and support for Laura Vargas from her high school classmates and the Miami community.
"It hits close to home when you hear it happens in Orlando, 200 miles away, but then when you hear it happened to a classmate it really strikes a cord," organizer Alexandra Pantin said.
Vargas' cousin, also a Lourdes Academy graduate, attended the fundraiser at Finka Table & Tap in southwest Miami-Dade and thanked everyone on behalf of the family for their thoughts and prayers.
"I talked to her the other day and she is just so happy seeing so many people love her," cousin Andrea Tejada said.
Vargas went to Pulse nightclub last weekend with her best friend, Luis Vielma. She sustained two gunshot wounds on her back and survived, but Vielma passed away.
"She wakes up at night and is always asking about him, and we all tear up when we talk about him because he was so phenomenal," Tejada said.
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Family members believe emotionally there could be a long road to recovery but through love and prayer she'll get better with each passing day.
"We need to unify in love. And that message is real, love is love is love, forever and ever," Tejada said.
