Survivors and family members of those killed or injured in the Club Q shooting in Colorado Springs say seven months after the violence erupted at the popular LGBTQ+ nightclub on North Academy Boulevard they are still “pleading” to receive funds that have been raised in their name.

About 10 of them gathered at City Hall on Tuesday, alongside representatives from nonprofit Bread and Roses Legal Center and people affected by other mass shootings. Most Club Q survivors and family members in attendance called on Colorado Healing Fund to directly release to victims about $1.1 million in additional funds it has raised but not dispersed in the wake of the tragedy.

Club Q Shooting in Colorado Springs | Full Coverage

“I shouldn’t have to be out here today, having to explain myself and plead and ask for the money that they raised for us,” said Adriana Vance, whose son, Raymond Green Vance, was one of the five people killed in the shooting. Around two dozen others were wounded in the violence.

Speakers said it has been a continuing fight with Colorado Healing Fund since November to receive donations they said they’re rightfully entitled to.

Many haven’t been able to properly grieve, cope with or heal from the tragedy because they have been trying to get the funds they need to pay rent and put food on the table, they said. Some were forced to go back to work to pay their bills and others lost their jobs because of their injuries or the mental trauma they endured in the shooting, survivors said.

“It’s been seven months and I have not had time to cope. I can’t cope because there’s always another battle,” Ashtin Gamblin said. She was working as “the front door girl” at Club Q on Nov. 19 and was shot nine times that night. “… We (survivors and family) didn’t ask for any of this. We just want to feel safe and OK and be able to move on.”

Colorado Healing Fund has received about $3.2 million to date in donations to Club Q shooting survivors and their families, the nonprofit’s executive director, Jordan Finegan, said via email Tuesday. The fund has distributed about $2.09 million of that.

Club Q survivors, patrons, divided over whether LGBTQ+ nightspot should reopen and with an on-site memorial

The organization made its most recent cash distribution of $1.3 million in February and has “continued to disburse money to our partners to support immediate needs” such as rent, hotel stays, moving costs, food, gas and house modifications, she said.

The Healing Fund is no longer actively fundraising for the Club Q shooting, she said.

Colorado Healing Fund does not issue payments directly to victims, their families or others impacted by a mass tragedy event. Rather, the organization issues payments to advocate organizations working directly with victims, who transfer the funds to recipients. Victims are reimbursed after they submit receipts from payments for approved expenses.

The organization typically takes a 10% administrative fee from donations. After Club Q survivors and supporters criticized that common practice, saying all the money should be funneled to victims and their families, the organization worked with underwriters to cover most expenses associated with administering the funds. All money received for Club Q shooting victims goes to the victims, Finegan said.

Finegan said Colorado Healing Fund was working with community partners to understand how the additional approximately $1.1 million it received for the Club Q tragedy “can have the greatest impact.”

She said the organization expects to continue making regular distributions leading up to the anniversary of the shooting and beyond.

The nonprofit makes it clear to donors it will use funds to address survivors’ and families’ short-term, intermediate and long-term needs, because victims commonly experience additional trauma in the months and years following an event like a mass shooting, she said.

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“The long-term component is very important because we are still five months away from the one-year anniversary of the tragedy, and experts tell us to expect additional trauma to surface then,” she said.

Survivors on Tuesday said they shouldn’t have to wait to be reimbursed for their expenses, which they claimed could take weeks to see.

If one of them or their family members asks for help paying medical bills, rent or other expenses, “It should not be, ‘Show me the receipts.’ It should not be, ‘Let me check with my board members,'” said Wyatt Kent, a drag performer whose partner Daniel Aston, a bartender at Club Q, was killed in the Nov. 19 shooting. “… We’ve been doing this for seven months. For what? For some nickels to be put into our pockets?”

Finegan said the typical turnaround period once the Healing Fund is aware of a funding request “is between one day and no more than a week.”

The organization works with partners to get immediate needs “covered as quickly as possible” as advocates work with families and survivors to submit those requests, she said. There may be “extremely rare” instances where disbursement took just over a week, she said.

Underwriting ensures 100% of contributions to Colorado Healing Fund go to Club Q victim assistance

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The victim advocate follows their organization’s guidelines for processing requests, allowing them to verify it and make a direct payment for the need or reimburse someone who has already paid, Finegan said.

Ashtin previously told The Gazette, and repeated on Tuesday, she was not reimbursed for costs like replacing her lost wedding rings or replacing the ignition in her truck when her keys went missing during her six-day hospital stay.

Finegan said the Colorado Healing Fund has met and approved 99% of requests for immediate support, and through its partners “has not denied any recent requests that are connected to the tragedy.”

Alleged Club Q shooter Anderson Aldrich is expected back in El Paso County district court on Monday for an arraignment hearing.

The Associated Press reported last week that Aldrich could accept a plea deal on Monday that would send Aldrich to prison for life.

Club Q shooting victims file notices to sue El Paso County