Aurora shooting: Jessica Ghawi scholarship fund zooms past goal with help from L.A. Kings

The first person identified as a victim of the Aurora theater shooting was Jessica Ghawi, a.k.a. Jessica Redfield, a fledgling sports journalist interning for 104.3 The Fan. On Tuesday, her family created a scholarship fund in her name in the hope that $20,000 could be raised by November 20. But...

By Michael Roberts

July 26, 2012

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The first person identified as a victim of the Aurora theater shooting was Jessica Ghawi, a.k.a. Jessica Redfield, a fledgling sports journalist interning for 104.3 The Fan. On Tuesday, her family created a scholarship fund in her name in the hope that $20,000 could be raised by November 20. But that total was surpassed in less than a day, thanks in part to the generosity of the Los Angeles Kings hockey team.

The Stanley Cup-champion Kings reportedly donated $10,000 to a sum that's exceeded $34,000 at this writing.

Click here to contribute. In the meantime, here's the description of the fund from the official site.

Help Us Build Futures from Tragedy

On July 20th, a gunman entered the Century 16 Movie Theaters in Aurora, Colorado and began firing. The aftermath, 12 dead and over 70 injured.

Jessica Ghawi, aka @JessicaRedField was one of those victims.

Jessica was an aspiring sports broadcaster who moved to Colorado only a year before to pursue her dream of a career in sports journalism.

We ask that you help us kick start the Official Jessica Redfield Sports Journalism Scholarship Fund.

Jessica was an avid blogger and tweeter, and we hope we can show how powerful social media can be during times of tragedy.

Why This Cause?

Jessica worked several jobs in order to keep going to school here in Denver, and worked as many intern positions with the different teams and media stations to prepare for a career that was cut way too short.

Jessica had moved to Aurora only a month ago in order save money to help keep chasing her dream of being a sports broadcaster.

The Jessica RedField Sports Journalism Fund will be seed money for the scholarship to help send another upcoming young sports talent to study journalism.

This is the official fund on behalf of Jessica's Family. Her brother Jordan Ghawi, and her mother Sandy Phillips.

Other Ways You Can Help

If you can't donate to the fund, please assist Jessica's cause by sharing this message on every social media platform you can. Let's show the power of social media for a great cause.

Thank You

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Michael Roberts began his career with Westword in 1990 as music editor. In 1999, he took on a new role, full-time media reporter, as author of a column called The Message. In 2008, he became the lead writer for Westword's news blog, The Latest Word, a position he held until January 2023. Michael continues to freelance for Westword, covering everything from business to sports and the media; he also contributes to Jazziz, a national music magazine. He holds a bachelor's degree from what is now Colorado Mesa University and master's degrees from the University of California, Los Angeles, and Northwestern University.

Contact: Michael Roberts

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