Family Victim Assistance Center, Camping World Stadium, Orlando, Fla.
It was a group effort to secure and operate the most functional and friendly victim assistance center possible following the terrorist shootings/mass killings at the Pulse Nightclub on June 12 in Orlando. And it was an undertaking venue operations professionals were uniquely suited to pursue in this environment which Allen Johnson, executive director of Orlando Venues, said is “a new world.”
When Venues Today told Johnson, executive director of Orlando Venues, he had won the 2016 Hall of Headlines News Award for helping the city of Orlando recover by establishing a crisis center at Camping World Stadium that ultimately gave aid to 906 individuals and 298 families over the course of the next eight days, he declined to accept unless the entire team was recognized.
Johnson then ticked off the list of leaders: Craig Borkon, assistant director; Fina Ortiz, administrative assistant; Kirk Wingerson, marketing division manager; Clyde Boutte; division manager for business, and Charlie Leone, division manager of operations, all with Orlando Venues; and Kathy Devault, director of strategic partnerships, City of Orlando, and Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer.
“This is a group award,” said Johnson. “Everyone helped, from our staff to the city staff to our vendors.
Johnson and the Orlando team were greeted Monday morning, June 13, by the FBI victims assistance division and they were asked to open up an Orlando United Friends and Victims Assistance Center in one of the Orlando venues.
Johnson and the team were tasked with converting a room in Camping World into something that would accommodate over 1,000 volunteers, 35 different agencies including local, national and international organizations, providing them with technology such as landlines and internet.
Agencies included The Red Cross; The Department of Children and Families; The Salvation Army and The Social Security Administration.
“Our job was to help all the agencies in any way we could,” said Borkon. “And not say ‘no’ to anyone. It was a sensitive, emotional time.”
“The idea was to have all of the different agencies together in one location,” said Devault. “This prevented the victims and their families from having to go to, or call, all these different agencies and allowed them to get help as quickly as possible.”
It wasn’t just the Orlando Venues staff and the agencies that helped; all the vendors from Camping World Stadium pitched in as well. Levy Restaurants donated three meals a day for the entire time the center was up; Owens Services, Lanier Parking and Andy Frain Services all stepped up and donated resources and their staff donated their time.
“There was not a single bill given to us from any of these companies,” said Johnson. “When I called and asked for help there wasn’t a question about payment. It was ‘what do you need?’ and ‘we’ll be there.’”
Johnson also wanted to praise many of his Camping World Stadium employees who worked eight straight days and didn’t ask for overtime pay or compensation.
As if Johnson’s and his team’s plate wasn’t full enough, in the middle of the week, President Obama and Vice President Biden came for a private meeting with victims and their families in the nearby Amway Center, another venue owned & operated by the City of Orlando. “The logistics of that were not easy,” said Johnson. “Usually you have two weeks to plan for a Presidential visit. We had two days.”
“Allen is a tremendous leader, and he leads in a very calm way and surrounds himself with a strong leadership team he trusts to do their jobs,” said Borkon.
Devault has just as much appreciation for Johnson. “I admire Allen and the way he works under pressure in a chaotic environment.”
After the Victim’s Assistance Center closed at Camping World Stadium and moved to a permanent location, Johnson was asked by the FBI to create a white paper on how to set up an emergency victims shelter. “They said it was textbook for them on how it should be done,” he said. “I hope and pray there’s not a ‘next time’, but if there is, they now have a formula and a plan for how to set it up.”
“I am so proud of what the city of Orlando and our employees did here,” he said. “Before the Pulse incident Orlando was known as a diverse and tolerant community, but now we are known as a united community.”