What to Know
- Father hosts memorial for slain daughter at his home.
- Friends and family gathered to release Chinese lanterns into the sky in her honor.
- Andrew Pollack, who has become an outspoken gun control advocate in the wake of the shooting, hosted the celebration of life.
A father who has become an outspoken gun control advocate in the wake of the shooting has opened his home to the community, and to NBC 6 cameras.
Meadow Pollack was one of the 17 people killed at Stoneman Douglas High School last Wednesday. On Thursday, Meadow’s father opened his home to those who knew and loved her. He says he will never let her life be forgotten.
“Will this community be the same? No, I don’t think so,” said Ryan Burton, a lacrosse coach at Stoneman Douglas, “But I think this community is resilient.”
“One of her friends suggested it. They wanted to come and light these lanterns,” said Andrew Pollack as friends and family gathered to light Chinese lanterns and send them in the air to remember the life of his daughter.
“We are so close, ten grandchildren. We all grew up together. And now we will have that person missing,” said Becca Pollack, a cousin.
“I had a great life before this happened. I’ll never see my beautiful daughter again,” said Andrew.
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Andrew is doing what he can through his grief. However, Meadow’s mother is grieving differently – keeping more to herself.
“She’s grieving and I don’t know what the next steps are,” said Sarah Pollack, her cousin.
This kind of heartache is heavy. Parkland is united in one clear message: no parent should have to bury their child because what happened at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School should never happen again.
“No more shootings in the schools. A Meadow movement is about protecting our kids.”
The push for safer schools is a fight that Meadow Pollack’s father will fight for the rest of his life.
