Comic book writer wants to help victims families

In the wake of the shooting shortly after midnight at Century 16 Theater in Aurora, Colo. on Thursday, July 19 many took to social media platforms to express their grief.
Tony Calandra, 31, opted instead to try to find a way to assist the families of those killed or wounded. On his Facebook profile, Tony posted the following cry for help:

“To Warner Bros. and all Movie theater owners and fans of The Dark Knight Rises. WE should all donate at least a $1 of our movie ticket price to the victims of this horrific act in Colorado. Shutting the movie down is what this sicko wants. Let’s show the truth of the human spirit can overcome all evil.”

At the time of this writing, 12 of the 71 people who were shot by 24-year-old James Holmes have died. Holmes was apprehended by police outside of the theater.
Calandra, a physical therapy technician who moonlights as a comic book writer and publisher, said he found out about the shooting when he got up for work early Friday morning. He said the idea to help the victims and their families came to him at work, and he decided to post his thoughts on Facebook and Twitter.
“It really seemed like a no brainer to me,” Calandra said. “This movie will make a ton of money and people who see the movie usually have some money…so I thought why not us as humans take a stand and show we can overcome all evil. So if every movie goer donated a dollar to the victims of Warner Bros. donate a dollar of each ticket sale that amount would add up.”

Calandra, who was born in San Antonio but now calls Baltimore home, said he has been a comic book fan since he learned to read. Batman has always been a favourite of his because “(Batman is) a man doing the right thing to protect those who need protection.”

Calandra said he has attempted several times to make contact with Warner Bros., the publisher of the movie, via their Facebook page and Twitter account, as well as through the customer service page of their website,  to see if they would take up his cause. He said he hoped others would join him in doing so.

“I’m just trying to spread the word,” Calandra said. “I don’t want to take credit for saying ‘I was the one who thought up this idea.’ I just want to help even if it is only a dollar. I mean this movie was projected to make a ton of cash. So if every movie-goer donated a dollar or more that could result in over a million dollars easily. A lot of people live paycheck to paycheck, but a dollar is an easy asking price for a good cause.”

Calandra said he hoped any funds raised could help with medical bills for the wounded, mental health care for victims and their families and “just some money for time off work to deal with this tragedy.”

Cineplex Entertainment, the largest film exhibitor in Canada, said they would donate a portion of the proceeds from ticket sales on Friday to the Red Cross Violence and Abuse Prevention Program.

Attempts to contact Warner Bros. and Cineplex went unanswered and messages were not immediately returned.

If you want to help support Tony Calandra and his attempt to help the shooting victims and their families, you can follow him on Twitter.

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