'She left an impression on everybody': Friend shares memories ahead of Shine a Light for Gabby memorial

The special tribute to the 22-year-old is just one way the community and Long Islanders are remembering the Blue Point native.

News 12 Staff

Sep 23, 2021, 10:11 AM

Updated 1,189 days ago

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The Blue Point community is planning a special tribute to Gabby Petito tomorrow and hopes it will stretch across Long Island.
People who knew Gabby Petito and others who just want to honor her memory showed up to the Blue Point Nature Preserve Thursday to pick all the items needed to make luminaries for the Shine a Light for Gabby memorial Friday.
The special tribute to the 22-year-old is just one way the community and Long Islanders are remembering the Blue Point native.

The teal ribbons also line the streets to the flag flying at half-staff outside the Bayport-Blue Point Public Library, heartbroken community members are banding together to honor 22-year-old Petito, whose disappearance and death has captivated the nation.  
Tori Moretti, of Bayport, was childhood friends with Petito.
"She was such a sweetheart," says Moretti. "She made everyone feel welcome. She was so happy, such a pure genuine person and even though I only knew her for a little bit, and I only hung out with her for a little bit when I was younger, she left an impression on me. She left an impression on everybody."
Nora Garvey came up with the idea for the Shine a Light for Gabby memorial.
For a $20 donation, people can receive a luminary to be lit in unison Friday. All proceeds will benefit the Petito and Schmidt families. Garvey says the response has been so overwhelming that she has sold more than 1,100 to people on Long Island, across the U.S. and as far away as Europe.
People are being asked to place the luminary on their driveways Friday and light them at 7 p.m. to send a unified message of love and support to the Petito and Schmidt families.
There is also a GoFundMe page to help the families.