The Tampa Bay Rays may have lost the game against the San Francisco Giants during Friday's yearly Pride Night, but they raised more than $300,000 toward the Pulse Victims Fund.
Pride Night at Tropicana Field was dedicated to the victims of Sunday's nightclub shooting in Orlando. The shooter killed 49 people and injured 53 in Orlando. Ahead of tonight's game, the Rays announced any open seats would be sold for $5 and 100 percent of those proceeds would be donated to the Pulse Victims Fund. The more than $300,000 that was raised, included money from their raffle, ticket sales, and donations.
"The fact that the Rays came out for the victims in Orlando, the fact that they're standing behind the LGBT community, I've been to LGBT night here in the past, (but) we felt like this is the night we had to come," Jim Nixon said.
More than 40,000 tickets were purchased to Friday night's game. It was a sold out game. The Rays said it was the biggest regular season game since their 2006 Opening Day game. Baseball fans were given free "We are Orlando" shirts with the Tampa Bay Rays logo on it.
"We need to be accepting and inclusive of everyone," Pam Horn said.
Also, One Blood held a blood drive outside the stadium. Even though they urgently needed blood on Sunday in Orlando, now they are building up their summer supply for a variety of reasons. People said they were happy to donate blood in honor of the victims.
"If I give to somebody, I might need it. It's going to come right back to me," Olga Altamirano said.
