LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — A night Las Vegas will never forget will forever be immortalized on the Las Vegas Strip in the form of the Forever One Memorial.
"I knew that we would make this a reality, but to be here is surreal," Tennille Pereira, Executive Director of the Vegas Strong Fund. "It does feel like, 'I can't believe we're here'."
Nine years after the 1 October tragedy, the Forever One Memorial is set to break ground this week.
Pereira, says the start of the work shows the community they've made good on their promise to get started on a project they’ve waited years to see.
"We continue to carry the torch, along with the survivors and the families that have gone through so much," said Pereira.
One of those survivors is Christina Gruber. Just days before we spoke, Christina visited the site of the future memorial for the first time since the tragedy.
"It's kind of hard to believe, honestly, because like you said, it does feel like just yesterday," said Gruber.
She described the terrifying moments she experienced on the night of October 1st, 2017.
"Within minutes of his set, we began to hear the pops," she said. "And then we realized that there was a shooting happening."
Gruber was hit with shrapnel as she and her friends ran, making it to a Catholic Church across the street. A fireman who'd been attending the concert put a tourniquet on her leg and carried her to a vehicle where she was transported with other victims, first to Desert Springs Hospital, then to Henderson Hospital.
Gruber eventually found out she had 18 pieces of shrapnel in her leg, including one that just missed her femoral artery. Today, she is metal free. For her, she says, spaces like the future memorial will bring another form of healing.
WATCH|Reporter Anyssa Bohanan gets exclusive walk-through at the future site of the Forever One Memorial
"The fact that we're going to have this memorial on the site of where the event happened is special," said Gruber. "They're going to be doing towers for the 58 that passed away, or were killed that night, and it's just going to be nice for the community to be able to come together to remember why we're there and to remember the love that we should have for one another."
Pereira says, while they're still planning to break ground this week they still need about 7-million dollars to complete the project. It's a goal, she says, she knows is a realistic one.
"Yes, we are acting on faith," said Pereira. "But we know that the heart of the community is there and that they do, and will, continue to support this project."
Gruber's husband, John Valentine, will be helping to raise funds for the next step of the memorial's building on Saturday through a charity cage match in Salt Lake City.
"I’m feeling grateful right now that I get to take an event that occurred in my life that was tragic and I get to do something positive with it by helping to raise funds, to help create this forever memorial that they're building," said Gruber. "There were 58 people that were killed that night, that never got to go home to their families, to their kids. By raising money for this project, you're providing a place for them to go and mourn, to remember and to heal themselves. It's important for us as well to be able to have that place. It's important for the whole community to have that place of healing and love."
The groundbreaking for the memorial is set for Friday afternoon at 4 p.m. at the corner of Reno and Giles. The goal is to complete the project by the 10 year remembrance on 1 October 2027.
If you're in a position to donate you can do so on the Forever One website here.