Vegas Strong Fund still conducting needs assessment, official says

People leave candles, notes, flowers and other small mementos at a makeshift memorial at the "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas" sign in Las Vegas on Tuesday, Oct. 31, 2017. (Bridget Bennett/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @BridgetKBennett

The Vegas Strong Fund is still completing its needs assessment, fund chairwoman Jan Jones Blackhurst said.

The Vegas Strong Fund hired the National Center for Victims of Crime to assess those needs. Blackhurst said in January that the assessment would be completed within 90 days.

The Vegas Strong Fund was established and principally funded by Las Vegas Sands, Wynn Resorts, Caesars Entertainment, Boyd Gaming and Red Rock Resorts in response to the Oct. 1 shooting, in which a gunman killed 58 and injured more than 500 others on the Strip.

Vegas Strong Fund previously said that half of what it collected would go to the Las Vegas Victims’ Fund and the other half would go toward supporting the needs identified in the assessment.

In February the fund gave $5.2 million to the Las Vegas Victims’ Fund, a separate 501(c)(3) that is currently distributing $31.4 million to victims of the Oct. 1 shooting who fall into three categories.

The Review-Journal is owned by the family of Las Vegas Sands Corp. Chairman and CEO Sheldon Adelson.