It took jurors five hours to come to their conclusion: The man accused of murdering 11 Jewish worshippers at the Tree of Life*Or L'Simcha Synagogue in Pittsburgh on the morning of Oct. 27, 2018, is guilty on all counts.

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Robert Bowers, 46 at the time of the mass shooting, has now been convicted on 63 charges, including 11 capital counts each of obstructing the free exercise of religious beliefs resulting in death and of using a firearm to commit murder; and 11 counts of hate crimes resulting in death.

Video: Reuters

"I am grateful to God for getting us to this day. And I am thankful for the law enforcement who ran into danger to rescue me and the US attorney who stood up in the court to defend my right to pray," said Rabbi Jeffrey Myers, who survived the attack, following the verdict.

"Today, I'm focused on being with my congregation and praying, singing and clapping in praise of God as we do each Shabbat. In the face of the horror our community has experienced, I can think of no better response than practicing my Jewish faith and leading worship," he added.

The Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh said it "continues to stand with the families, witnesses and first responder community most directly impacted by the deadly synagogue shooting."

The organization added that the shooting's impact extends far beyond those in the local community and thanked "the citizenry of the greater Pittsburgh region for standing with the Jewish community since October 27, 2018, and supporting our communal efforts towards healing and resiliency."

The American Jewish Committee stated that justice has been served.

"We realize it does little to ease the pain for the families and friends of the 11 people murdered at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh simply for being Jewish and practicing their faith. However, we hope this verdict allows them to continue the slow process of healing if not closure," it stated.

Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO and national director of the Anti-Defamation League, noted that the attack was the deadliest antisemitic violence in US history.

"The hate and conspiratorial thinking that fueled this violence has not gone away," he stated. "We thank the jurors for their service, and we hope this brings closure to those who lost loved ones five years ago."

Reprinted with permission from JNS.org.

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The state of Pennsylvania will allocate $6.6 million in funding to redevelop the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, where in 2018 a gunman murdered 11 worshippers and wounded six others in the worst antisemitic attack in US history.

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Governor Tom Wolf made the announcement at a press conference on Monday outside of the congregation in the city's Squirrel Hill neighborhood, calling the contribution for the renovation a "Hanukkah present" on the final day of the holiday.

"Tree of Life is undertaking a project to remember the past, to inform the present, and promote healing for the future," Wolf said, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "And I am so proud to support the communities' efforts to reimagine this space, to create a welcoming place for residents, for visitors in Pittsburgh to reflect, and to learn, and to grow."

The money will be used to renovate the main sanctuary and replace the chapel, where the victims were killed on Oct. 27, 2018 when the suspect in the shooting, Robert Bowers, burst into the synagogue shouting "all Jews must die" as he opened fire, according to police.

The synagogue also plans to build a memorial garden to the 11 victims.

Bowers, who pleaded not guilty, is facing dozens of federal and state charges, including capital crimes and hate crimes.

i24NEWS contributed to this report

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US President Joe Biden may have gotten himself in hot water during a well-meaning teleconference with Jewish religious leaders in advance of the High Holidays on Thursday.

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The teleconference was facilitated by the Central Conference of American Rabbis, the Rabbinical Assembly, the Rabbinical Council of America and the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association.

During the roughly 16-minute-long teleconference, Biden lamented the rise in antisemitism in the United States.

"The point I'm trying to make here is that I used to think coming out of the civil-rights movement and being involved in the Jewish community as a kid, and the civil rights movement in Delaware, I used to think that hate could be defeated; it could be wiped out. But I learned a long time ago, it can't. It only hides. It hides. It hides under the rocks. And given any oxygen at all, it comes out. It's a minority view, but it comes out, and it comes out raging," said Biden.

"And it's been given too much oxygen in the last four, five, seven, 10 years, and it has seen itself, whether it was – I remember spending time at the – you know, going to the – you know, the Tree of Life Synagogue, speaking with the – just – it just is amazing these things are happening – happening in America," he said.

"And I guess the point I want to make is that it just shows that if we walk away from 'never again,' it's going to happen again. It can't happen again. And so, I guess the point I'm making is that the attack in Pittsburgh, those attacks – all antisemitic attacks – aren't just a strike against the Jewish community; they're a strike against the soul of our nation and the values which we say we stand for. No matter its source or stated rationale, we have to and will condemn this prejudice at every turn, alongside other forms of hate."

But Barb Feige, executive director of the Pittsburgh synagogue where 11 worshippers were murdered by a gunman in 2018, told the New York Post that Biden has not visited the synagogue in the nearly three years since the shooting.

In a statement, the White House said Biden was referring to a phone call he made after the shooting to Jeffrey Myers, the rabbi of the Conservative congregation, one of three in the Tree of Life complex.

In a statement to CNN on Friday, Myers said: "President Biden kindly called me on my cell phone as I was sitting in Dulles Airport awaiting a return flight to Pittsburgh after I testified before Congress in July 2019. In a heartfelt way, he extended his condolences and asked how we were doing. We spoke about the challenges of antisemitism, and he made clear he would confront it with us as president. The conversation meant a great deal to me, and I will always be grateful for his kind words and continued support of our community."

Then-President Donald Trump visited Tree of Life in October 2018, the month of the massacre.

In the teleconference, Biden first recalled his time as vice president under former President Barack Obama – hosting High Holiday events at the Naval Observatory, the residence of the vice president – and apologized for not being able to host the religious leaders this year at the White House because of COVID-19.

He made several mentions that he's a practicing Catholic but said that the ideals of the Jewish High Holidays are universal.

"Renewal. Renewal. When I was running for president, I placed the idea of renewal at the center of my campaign. I said my mission was to restore America's soul. I got criticized for that, but I meant it in a literal sense," said Biden. "We seem to have lost our way. We lost the – a sense of comradery. We treated each other so harshly, the way we spoke of one another and the way in which we dealt with politics."

Biden spoke about his interactions with former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir in Israel during the time of the 1967 Six-Day War, taking his children and grandchildren to visit concentration camps in Europe, in addition to his daughter's wedding to Howard Krein, a Jewish plastic surgeon from Philadelphia, in 2012.

The families wanted to do a joint Catholic and Jewish wedding, and Biden contacted a friend of his in Delaware who could find a rabbi to officiate a wedding in a Catholic church.

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"And we had a chuppah on the altar, and we had a co- … it was co-officiated. Now, some of you aren't going to like this, but it was co-officiated by a Catholic priest, as well as a Jewish rabbi," he said.

He only had one request – that the Catholic hymn "On Eagle's Wings" be played during the ceremony. Instead, he joked, they played a Jewish wedding song of a name he couldn't remember.

"There's so much we can do. People are looking over the edge, and they're all of a sudden realizing we got to change. We've got to change," he concluded after quoting an Irish poet. "And I – I'm not being solicitous, but I – I think the Jewish community is sort of the backbone of staying with what's right. And so, I'm looking forward to continuing to work with you. And again, happy holidays."

Featured on JNS.org.

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Myers heads the Tree of Life – Or L'Simcha Congregation, whose synagogue in Pittsburg, bearing the same name, was the target of the worst anti-Semitic incident in American history last year.

He spoke with Israel Hayom several weeks ago, as Pittsburgh's Jewish community was preparing to celebrate the High Holy Days for the first time since the Oct. 27, 2018 massacre at the synagogue, which claimed the lives of 11 Jews.

The victims, all of whom were Jews taking part in Shabbat services in two separate congregations at the complex, were murdered by a white supremacist.

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In the ensuing months, the congregations have had to pray elsewhere because the site of the shooting has yet to be reopened for services.

For Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, it was clear that a big venue was needed. It was then that nearby Calvary Episcopal Church stepped up to the plate: Calvary's head priest, Rev. Jonathon W. Jensen, wrote to Tree of Life, and made it clear that they would go out of their way to make sure the High Holy Days would be properly celebrated.

"Our faith calls us to love God and love our neighbor as ourselves," Jensen said. "And this is one expression of that."

Myers was extremely grateful for that gesture, which meant that some 800 congregants would use the church intermittently for about a month. The regular churchgoers were also invited to attend the services, which saw Torah scrolls and shofars placed next to crosses and images of the Twelve Apostles.

Asked about the reopening date of the synagogue, Myers struggled to answer. "That's a complexed issue to resolve, everyone realizes it's not an easy decision to put in a time frame but one day we will reopen," he said.

During the interview he reflected on that horrific event, sharing his pain at witnessing his congregants' suffering.

"At first I experienced horrible guilt but I've come to recognize I did the best I could, had I perhaps attempted more I probably wouldn't have been standing here.

"Well, I'm standing here talking to you so I guess that's a pretty good testimony amongst all these lights here that I'm doing OK. It's a challenging day by day ... So I've embraced what apparently my mission is and I move forward with it day to day, to take care of myself, take care of my congregation, and to see that 11 people didn't die in vain."

According to Myers, there is no simple answer to what needs to happen in order to return to normalcy, but he has been determined not to fall into despair.

"It's really very easy to fall prey to survivor's guilt, regret, and other feelings, and become a victim. So the feistiness you see in me is that renewed energy and vigor and faith that I have to soldier onward to do the best that I can to make our world a better place."

In the wake of the massacre, President Donald Trump and others have called on the justice system to have the shooter, 46-year-old Robert Gregory Bowers sentenced to death.

Myers refuses to take a stand on this but instead wants to focus on the help he and the community have received in the year since.

"I have no thoughts on the matter, I have complete faith in the Department of Justice to act professionally and do the right thing."

"We've gotten condolences from all over ... being there means a great deal, seeing how much people care. But words aren't necessary. Frequently there are no words and sometimes it's beyond words and just the presence of being there and letting people know you are there. I'm just one of many but it's an entire community embracing each other. That's how we get through it.

"There's no textbook, we're writing the textbook as we go along. And if you look at the research you see there's nothing out there to tell you what to do and how to do it. Particularly for the Jewish community, this has never happened. And the Jewish community has been a part of the United States for 355 years. So we're figuring it out an hour at a time, a day at a time, what to do."

The interview with Myers was conducted at the offices of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, about ten minutes from Squirrel Hill, the neighborhood where the shooting took place. The neighborhood is home to about a quarter of the 50,000 Jews who live in the area.

Family members of the victims sat next to him. During the conversation, everyone took pains to avoid talking about the shooter and to steer clear of politics. They preferred to talk about how everyone in the city, regardless of faith and ethnicity, rallied behind the Jewish community to make sure the synagogue would be renovated and reopened.

"We're very mindful of the terminology, that's the sensitivity we're trying to hold up. Throughout this past year we've discovered that language is important," Director of Jewish Life and Learning at the federation, Rabbi Amy Bardack, who also sat next to Myers, said. "What happened was not a tragedy, as that could be attributed to a natural disaster. And we don't use the word 'event' which can just as easily describe a joyous thing, like a bar mitzvah or a wedding. What we experienced was a malicious, hateful, and deliberate attack," she continued.

"Out only explicit request is that come Oct. 27 that day would be protected, and the city is honoring that by not issuing permits for marches that day," she stressed. "But there's Oct. 28, there are the days before. That's when those who feel passionate about political issues can speak to that. We're just asking for a peaceful memorial day for the community to humbly come together to commemorate."

Cecil and David Rosenthal, two disabled brothers in their fifties, were the first to be killed in the shooting. They lived near the synagogue and attended the services every week. They were loved by the community. Their sister Michele Rosenthal rushed to the scene when her husband called her to tell her there had been a shooting.

"You just got into a mode of taking care of what needs to get done ... Our parents were our priority and just making sure they were getting through this, it's me and my sister," she recalled. "We woke up the next morning and started working on the plans, per my dad's wishes because of the Jewish tradition to do things quickly. Probably best to just say it was just putting one foot in front of the other."

According to Rosenthal, family and community are key to coping with such tragedy, because they are a pillar of stability.

"It helped being surrounded by family and friends who knew how to step in and didn't ask any questions. And having my husband there just to make sure I got through the day. I spent my childhood in that building; I know all the details inside the building. I can't ever go back in."

After entering the ground floor, the shooter went to the basement, where the New Light Congregation was holding service. The Conservative congregation is led by Rabbi Jonathan Perlman, 55, who was at the synagogue during the fateful day. Myers said coping with the events has taken a heavy toll on him, shedding a tear as he spoke.

"I have discovered that trauma has many faces – there are highs and lows that will remain with me for the rest of my life. It's a wound, it's not like grief that you can recover from and make peace with.

"Trauma is something that is ready to attack you at every moment of the day; hearing gunshots on TV, loud booms on the street, might be from a car backfiring, being aware of crowds and suspicious people. It has deeply affected me and the way I deal with it is through psychotherapy primarily, through prayer, being around my friends at New Light. I've held them up but they have also held me up. And I love to interact and laugh with them; it helps me a great deal.

"I have been told that the second year after the anniversary of a trauma is worse. So I'm preparing for that. This resilience is sometimes very surprising. I strive for that but I know it is not something that is always promised

For Rabbi Perlman, the time that has passed may have helped reflect on the events, but the pain is all the same.

"I think a lot about what happened and keep seeing images in my mind. I'll share one experience: There was a man whose name was Mel Wax, who always opened our services. He was an older man, 88 years old; he had a great deal of energy, always there early. He was deaf in both ears but that didn't stop him, he kept in tune with the entire congregation.

"Once the shooting started I was able to get two people and him into a large storage room in our sanctuary, and he didn't understand what was going on. He didn't hear gunfire, he was confused and he kept thinking that whatever it was we were bothered by somehow stopped. So he left the storage closet and he was shot twice.

"I beat myself up about this because I feel like I could've wrestled him into the ground, I could've shouted at him so he would know not to leave the closet, hold his arms, something. But I know that I would've put myself in jeopardy as well."

According to Perlman, "Mel was a kind old man; he was promoting voting registration at his senior apartment building just the week before, because in services we've been talking about going out to vote." Perlman adds with pain, "Like all others, he did not deserve to die."

He constantly thinks of what could have happened had he done something different, and it pains him that he could not save Wax.

"I go through these scenarios in my mind and I think a lot of the other victims do too, how I could've done more, why didn't I save more people, why did this person choose to do x, y and z, why did they turn the other way. It's part of the trauma and the inner demon, carrying around this type of thing with you. I will never forget Mel and I ask his forgiveness and wish he could've been here celebrating the new year with me."

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"Join us in planting 12,000 trees of life! Make the land even more beautiful in their memory," it said on the project's event page.

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"[This is] a great opportunity to help Israeli farmers while paying tribute to the 12 holy victims of synagogue shootings, may their memories be for a blessing," continued the plea. "Show your love for Israel by joining in this wonderful mitzvah!"

A total of 11 Jewish worshippers were murdered on Oct. 27, 2018, when a lone gunman entered the Tree of Life*Or L'Simcha Synagogue in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh during Shabbat-morning services.

Exactly six months later, on April 27, 2019, a similar shooting took place at Chabad of Poway in Southern California, where a 60-year-old Jewish woman was killed in the synagogue lobby and three others injured in the attack, also on Shabbat morning during services.

Reprinted with permission from JNS.org.

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Lawyers for Tree of Life shooting defendant Robert Bowers made the statement in a response to prosecutors' proposal to start the trial in mid-September 2020.

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"Against the hazards of a September-October 2020 trial, the government invokes the rights of crimes victims to be free from unreasonable delay," Bowers' lawyers said.

"The court's view of this invocation of rights should be informed by the fact that this case would already be over – and interests in a speedy resolution vindicated – had the government accepted the defendant's offer to plead guilty as charged and be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of release."

Bowers' attorneys told a judge in May that he wanted to plead guilty in return for a life sentence.

The US attorney's office in Pittsburgh notified the court in August it is pursuing the death penalty against Bowers, 47, for what was the deadliest attack on Jews in US history.

Police said Bowers expressed hatred of Jews during and after the October 2018 rampage.

A spokeswoman for the Pittsburgh federal prosecutors declined to comment. Messages were left seeking comment from Bowers' lawyers.

The Bowers team's filing said trial in about a year would run into major Jewish holidays, as well as the home stretch of the presidential election.

The defense lawyers said they need time to prepare for trial, including questions about where it should be held.

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While there is no set time frame, "it is indeed our goal we will one day return to Tree of Life," said Tree of Life's Rabbi Jeffrey Myers, who was leading Shabbat services when the shooting began.

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The three congregations that were attacked on Oct. 27 – Tree of Life, New Light, and Dor Hadash – now worship at two other synagogues.

Leaders from the congregations were gathering Friday to reflect on the past year and discuss plans for next month's observance.

The theme for the October commemoration is "Remember. Repair. Together." Events planned for Sunday, Oct. 27 – exactly one year after the massacre – include a private Jewish service in the morning, doing community service in the city, studying the portion of the Torah that was to be read when the shooting occurred, and a public memorial service in the evening.

"There is no intention to make this an anniversary. Anniversary indicates a happy event. This is not. We will commemorate to remember and repair together," said New Light's co-president, Stephen Cohen.

"Our hearts were torn 11 months ago, and healing does not occur overnight," he said. "Even now, there are family members who cannot even drive by the building – they are in so much pain. We look upon this day as a way of repairing that hurt."

That idea stems from tikkun olam, the Jewish concept of repairing the world, said Adam Hertzman, marketing director of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, one of several groups helping with Friday's discussion and the one-year commemoration.

Authorities charged Robert Bowers, 47, a truck driver from Baldwin, Pennsylvania, in the attack that killed eight men and three women, and wounded seven others inside the Tree of Life synagogue, where congregants from New Light and Dor Hadash also had gathered. Bowers has pleaded not guilty. He faces the death penalty if convicted.

Myers and others also want the commemoration to recognize the outpouring of support that continues from people in Pittsburgh and around the world.

"The community is healing. We will never be healed … [but] there are people who have found their voices and are engaged in a wide range of activities to promote healing," Myers said.

Businesses in the city's Squirrel Hill neighborhood, home to Tree of Life, still display "Stronger than hate" signs in their windows. A makeshift memorial bearing the 11 victims' names stood outside the synagogue for weeks and drew thousands of visitors.

Hundreds showed up for a public lighting of a Menorah outside the synagogue in December. Blue tarps that once covered a long chain-link fence made way this month for paintings by young people from Pittsburgh and around the globe.

In six weeks, the synagogue received 224 drawings bearing messages of hope, support, and perseverance such as "We may face defeat, but we must not be defeated," ''You are not alone" and "Brush away the darkness."

More than half were by students in Parkland, Florida; Littleton, Colorado; Newtown, Connecticut; and New Zealand, all places that have experienced mass shootings.

The paintings are "a bigger statement than anything else anyone could have done," Cohen said. They "turn the building into a thing of beauty. It changes the focus from the present to the future."

Ellen Surloff, immediate past president of Dor Hadash, finds the drawings inspiring but also "heartbreaking," knowing many of the young artists were affected by mass shootings, too.

The one-year commemoration will focus on the victims and healing, she said, but Surloff also wants "an awareness that the reason we are there speaking on Friday is because a white supremacist who hated immigrants got access to an assault weapon."

Investigators say Bowers opened fire with an AR-15 rifle and other weapons, and that he posted criticism of a Jewish charity on social media prior to the attack, claiming the immigrant aid society "likes to bring invaders that kill our people." Authorities said Bowers also raged against Jews as he gunned down his victims, and told investigators "all these Jews need to die."

"The shooter did not defeat us," Surloff said. "We were a strong community before the shooting and we are a stronger community after the shooting." She added: "It left an indelible mark on ourselves and on our community. But it does not define us. It will never define us."

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"I condemn the abhorrent attack on a synagogue in California; this is an attack on the heart of the Jewish people. We send condolences to the family of Lori Gilbert Kaye and our best wishes for a quick recovery to the wounded," Netanyahu said.

"The international community must step up the struggle against anti-Semitism," Netanyahu added.

Later this week, the prime minister plans to convene a special meeting to discuss the uptick in anti-Semitic attacks worldwide.

On Saturday, a gunman opened fire inside a synagogue near San Diego as worshippers celebrated the last day of Passover. The attack came exactly six months after 11 people were killed by a gunman at a Pittsburgh synagogue in October.

As news of the shooting spread, reactions poured in from Israeli, American and Jewish leaders throughout the world.

President Reuven Rivlin said, "We were shocked and grieved to hear of the shooting at Chabad of Poway, California yesterday. The murderous attack on the Jewish community during Pesach, our holiday of freedom, and just before Holocaust Memorial Day, is yet another painful reminder that anti-Semitism and hatred of Jews is still with us, everywhere. No country and no society are immune. Only through education for Holocaust remembrance and tolerance can we deal with this plague."

Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz said, "The State of Israel is sorrowful about the horrible terrorist attack at the Chabad of Poway Synagogue, where Lori Gilbert Kaye lost her life. Our hearts and prayers are with Lori's family and the wounded of this attack. We are here to assist the local Jewish community however and whenever necessary."

The Pittsburgh synagogue that six months ago was the site of the deadliest U.S. attack on Jews offered its sympathy to the Chabad of Poway synagogue near San Diego.

The Tree of Life synagogue, where 11 people were killed by a gunman in October, released a statement on Saturday that "THIS MUST STOP. We are heartbroken – and appalled and outraged – by the news of the attack at the Poway Synagogue near San Diego today. This must stop. It was only six months ago to the day that we became members of that tragic club of community-based shootings to which no one wants to belong. We know first-hand the fear, anguish and healing process such an atrocity causes, and our hearts are with the afflicted San Diego families and their congregation. We will not give in to H(asterisk). We send our love and prayers to the Chabad families. These senseless acts of violence and prejudice must end. Enough is enough!"

Jonathan A. Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, said in a statement: "This shooting is a reminder of the enduring virulence of anti-Semitism. It must serve as a call to action for us as a society to deal once and for all with this hate. People of all faiths should not have to live in fear of going to their house of worship. From Charleston to Pittsburgh to Oak Creek and from Christchurch to Sri Lanka, and now Poway, we need to say 'enough is enough.'"

World Jewish Congress President Ronald S. Lauder released a statement saying that "there is absolutely no justification or explanation for such violence, and it is inconceivable that, yet again, innocent people have been targeted simply for their religion and for choosing to attend a place of worship. … There is no room for such hate-filled violence in our society. People of all faiths must stand together and declare that we will never tolerate such hatred."

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Director Sara J. Bloomfield said in a statement: "Now our thoughts are with the victims and their loved ones. But moving forward this must serve as yet another wake-up call that antisemitism is a growing and deadly menace. The Holocaust is a reminder of the dangers of unchecked antisemitism and the way hate can infect a society. All Americans must unequivocally condemn it and confront it in wherever it appears."

U.S. President Donald Trump, speaking to reporters, said, "My deepest sympathies go to the people that were affected – the families, the loved ones – by the, obviously, looks right now based on my last conversations – looks like a hate crime. Hard to believe, hard to believe. With respect to the synagogue in California near San Diego. We're doing some very heavy research. We'll see what happens, what comes up. At this moment it looks like a hate crime. But my deepest sympathies to all of those affected. And we'll get to the bottom of it. It looks like the person was apprehended, no more danger. And law enforcement has done a fantastic job."

U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Twitter, "Coming just six months after the horrific mass shooting at Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, we are confronted with what appears to be another anti-Semitic attack. We all stand with the Jewish community against this act of hate."

California Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement: "California sends our deepest and heartfelt condolences to the friends and families of the victims of today's shooting at the Chabad of Poway. … We join the Poway community in its grief and, together with all Californians, recognize the bravery and heroism of our first responders. … No one should have to fear going to their place of worship, and no one should be targeted for practicing the tenets of their faith."

Steve Vaus, the mayor of Poway, where the shooting took place, said on Twitter: "Hate has no place in ANY community … least of all Poway. We will put our arms around each other and walk through this tragedy as the family we have always been and always will be."

Longtime civil rights activist Rev. Jesse Jackson said, "We offer our prayers for those killed and wounded in San Diego. In this hateful environment, there is a target on the back of blacks and Jews. … The environment is toxic. The winds are blowing and we must detoxify the environment. Those who do things to set the climate are equally responsible. 19-year-olds are not born hateful. It is developed and learned. We must ban assault weapons."

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The team, its foundation, fans and corporate partners have been raising money through its "Stronger Than Hate" campaign since the Oct. 27 shootings. Eleven people were killed and six others were injured.

The Penguins committed $50,000, then raised the rest through auctions, sales of "Stronger Than Hate" patches, a text-to-donate program and an in-arena collection.

In all, the team so far has raised $348,705.

In addition, the team has pledged $200,000 to the newly created Public Safety Support Trust Fund in the city, which will benefit first responders.

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