King Neptune is always standing proud and guarding his city, but one artist depicts him in mourning after the Virginia Beach mass shooting.
A symbol for the City of Virginia Beach, King Neptune always stands watch over the city. However, post-mass shooting, local graphic designer Dan Malana drew a picture of King Neptune mourning over the tragedy. In the illustration, he holds one hand over his face as he cries over a broken turtle on the ground – the turtle is broken into 12 pieces, representing the 12 victims that died that day.
See his Facebook post here:
Courtesy of Dan Malana
Malana chose to turn the drawing into a poster after locals spotted his Facebook post and started requests in the comments. He showed it to a coworker, and after she began to cry, he realized just how meaningful the drawing would be to area residents. He updated the post status, stating that the posters are selling for $20 each, with all proceeds being donated to the victims' families. Over $2,000 has been donated so far, and a few posters still remain.
He will be giving the first 100 posters to those who donate $20 or more to the United Way Tragedy Fund. Most of the posters have already been claimed! Graciously, Jones Printing in Chesapeake has generously offered to print 100 of the posters for free and to ship them to homes all around. The United Way Tragedy Fund is available at this link – Once you have donated, respond to the Facebook post with "VBstrong" letting him know, and he will arrange to reserve you a poster!
Courtesy of 13 News Now
Malana drew the photo in order to depict the sorrow and grief he and others are feeling after the tragic events! In a way, the poster has become more than just a poster and is helping the family members of the victims heal.
Is Virginia Beach broken? Absolutely not! But we are hurting.
Since landing in Virginia Beach back in 2004, I never thought my city would suffer from such a tragedy, especially at the city buildings. They were always a safe space that was comforting for locals because of the beautiful landscape, colonial structures, lack of crime, and the fact that police are there protecting the area constantly.
When I saw the story while scrolling around on Facebook, I stopped what I was doing and had to take a moment to process the news.
"Not my city!" I thought. "No, not in Virginia Beach!"
But it happened. And Dan Malana hopes to help us cope with the tragedy in a special way!
Did you know one of the victims? Have you donated to the United Way Tragedy Fund? Tell us in the comments!
