Jeanine and Wally Goodnough from Sarasota, Florida, decked out a little Smart car in honor of the victims from Pulse. They were invited to Tampa Pride. The car had a top hat which cost about $400 to build. All expenses came out of pocket. They were invited to events all over the state.
Jeanine is the parent of a child who is gay. She identifies with the heart ache and pain that the pulse families of victims are going through. Brenda Lee Márquez-McCool was at the club with her son and her story toughed Jeanine deeply. That could have been her with her son. He was actually going to go to Pulse that night but chose not to. He had to work. One of his friends died. That person worked just a couple of blocks from their home. Less than 6 degrees of separation brought Eddies life, his tragedy, into their life.
They decked out their Smart car to carry on Eddies Justice‘s motto, “Do as much good as you can, for as many people as you can, and do it as often as you can.” They created the car out of love, out of respect, out of compassion. It was done, because they wanted to show their, love, their respect for a hurting community, a hurting world.
When they took the smart car to Saint Pete Pride Parade, a woman was looking at the car, and Jeanine explained that the 49 stars represented the 49 victims and the 53 smaller hears represented the 53 survivors. The woman was one of the survivors. Jeanine broke down and cried. The simple stickers on the car meant so much to so many people.