ORLANDO, Fla. — About seven years after 49 people were killed at Pulse nightclub in Orlando, the Contigo Fund has raised and distributed nearly $3.6 million to Central Florida nonprofits and grassroots organizations that empower the LGBTQ+ and Latin-X community.

The Contigo Fund, which means “with you” in Spanish, was created to heal, empower and grant financial support to organizations directly serving the LGBTQ+ and Latino community in Orange, Osceola, Seminole, Lake, Polk and Volusia counties.

“Waking up that Sunday morning, it felt like my family was under attack,” said Marco Quiroga, founding executive director for the Contigo Fund.

“I have a complicated relationship with Orlando as a home,” Quiroga said. “I faced a lot of challenges as a youth.”

After the Pulse terror attack in 2016, he realized there were few support services to help with healing and felt a strong calling to support a community close to his heart.

“We (LGBTQ+ and Latino communities) actually make up a huge portion of the population here in Orlando,” he said. “Orlando is super-diverse. Orlando deserves a strong and well-resourced LGBTQ+ community here.”

Quiroga has dedicated himself to funding organizations to help Pulse survivors and members of the LGBTQ+ community. All dollars raised by the Contigo Fund end up in grants, financial support and coaching to the associated organizations. So far, it has awarded 159 grants, touching dozens of LGBTQ+ organizations in Central Florida.

Joél Junior Morales works closely with Quiroga.

“I am a proud queer Puerto Rican,” Morales said. “I’ve been a part of the community since I was born.”

Morales said he grew up in a religious family, and terms like “gay” and “queer” were taboo.

“Once I found out who I was, it really helped me get over this lack of not being seen for so long,” he said.

Through the fund, Morales said he wants others to feel seen. 

“It gives me so much hope and resilience just knowing that we’re able to do this and able to uplift the voices of the voiceless,” he said.

Morales said he has only visited the Pulse memorial a few times since the 2016 attack but wanted to help with the recovery.

“It’s hard for me to visit personally because the community is still hurting, is still healing,” he said.

As “Orlando United Day — A Day of Love and Kindness” approaches on June 12, both leaders said they’re proud the Contigo Fund has already handed out nearly $700,000 in 2023.

“Queer and trans people in Florida deserve to live lives of joy and deserve to thrive, and no one should be getting in the way of that,” Quiroga said. “It’s our work to make sure that happens here in Orlando.”