On Oct. 1, the nine-year anniversary of the Las Vegas Route 91 mass shooting, the Associated Students of the University of Nevada (ASUN) handed out candy bars that memorialized the victims at various locations on campus.
The Route 91 Harvest music festival shooting is considered to be the United States’ deadliest, with a death toll of 58 casualties.
ASUN set out 12 tables, each with 58 candy bars which came with a photo and brief description of one of the 58 victims. This year was the first time ASUN officially held a remembrance event for the Route 91 shooting.
“When you read the names and learn a bit about who they were, you are keeping their memory alive,“ Doty said.
The idea originally came to her after learning about The Honor Network, a nonprofit organization created by Tommy Maher.
Maher, a firefighter from New York, did one random act of kindness in all 58 victims’ hometowns. He took a 9,500 mile long trip across the United States in 2017 to visit each town.
Like Doty, Maher had no initial personal or familial ties to any of the victims but felt compelled to help after hearing about the tragic shooting back in 2017.
Maher’s acts of kindness ranged from donating to disaster relief, spending the day with survivors and handing out items such as toys, lottery tickets and backpacks.
This inspired Doty.
“One of the things [the Honor Network suggested] was to give somebody a piece of candy. I was in marching band and we were selling band candy that year, so I had so much candy in my house, and the rest is history,” said Doty.
Doty has been making commemorative candy bars for the shooting’s anniversary every year since 2019.
She coordinated with resident hall directors to hand out the candy bars in dorm lobbies while she was still an undergraduate student.
One of these resident hall directors was Lauren Hyde.
Hyde suggested to Doty that they should expand beyond the dorm halls.
“At the time I turned it down. I was just like a stupid kid giving out candy at school and didn’t know much else,” Doty said.
However, Doty changed her mind as she was approaching graduation in 2025 and reached out to Hyde to plan this year’s event.
”I knew this would be the last time I did it as a student at UNR … I’ve had so much positive feedback over these years that I just wanted to continue,” Doty said.
Since Doty graduated last year, it’s up to ASUN now to keep her annual remembrance tradition alive on campus.
Troy Barrera, a student at UNR and the director of Executive Outreach for ASUN, has been working with Doty and tabled for the event.
“I think this is something we would like to continue. I’ve created a folder for it so next year’s director of outreach could choose to pick it up and continue the tradition if they’d like,” Troy said.
Doty said there could be a possible collaboration between ASUN and the Reno Police Department (RPD) for the 10-year anniversary in 2027.
”Maybe next year [RPD] will want to do an active assailant training session on that date,” said Doty. “They said they were interested in the idea.”
Doty hopes the 10-year anniversary will be a day dedicated to honoring survivors and victims alike.
Doty speaks to the Route 91 shooter:
”You are going to be forgotten, and your victims, they will be the ones remembered,” she said.
