
Letter from a member of the Point Loma Community Presbyterian Church in San Diego, California. The letter reads: "Dear friends, My heart and prayers are with all of you as you process your loss and the events in these past few days. May God's presence and comfort be showered on every one of you. I cannot even begin to imagine... I pray for God's grace and blessings. With love, Cheryl [last name redacted]."
In the days after the October 27 attack, people began leaving objects at two locations outside the Tree of Life synagogue--one at the corner of Wilkins and Shady avenues in front of the Zittrain Gardens, and the other on a private lawn at Wilkins and Murray avenues, just beyond police barricades. Community volunteers moved the entirety of these two memorials inside the Tree of Life building on November 14, 2018, for preservation purposes. Most of these objects including this one were moved to archival preservation over the following year, but a small number were arranged in public display in the windows of the Hailperin Sanctuary lobby. Rauh Jewish Archives staff and volunteers dismantled this display on February 16, 2023, and the objects were brought to the archive for preservation. Point Loma Community Presbyterian Church is an intergenerational church located in San Diego, California. Reverend Karla Shaw, who had lived in Pittsburgh in the early 2000s, had planned to spend a week in Pittsburgh in November 2018. After Rev. Shaw heard the news about the October 27 attack, she and her community organized a letter writing campaign and created a prayer quilt. Rev. Shaw brought these letters and quilt with her to Pittsburgh, which she left at the Wilkins memorial.