Four years after the 2012 Aurora theater shooting, organizers of a memorial to the victims say they are more than halfway toward their goal of raising $200,000 to create a permanent tribute to the 12 people killed and the dozens wounded that night.

The memorial garden will be “a place of peace,” said Tiina Marie Coon, a mother whose son survived the theater attack without injury but developed post-traumatic stress disorder.

“It’s a very big step — a healing step for the community in a positive way,” said Coon, who has worked with the fundraiser 7/20 Memorial Foundation since its beginning near the one-year anniversary of the July 20, 2012 shooting.

The group has raised $110,048 as of June 30, according to the mayor’s office — although Coon, the secretary of the board for the foundation, puts the most recent number at $110,249. The first plants for the memorial garden are expected to be installed next year, Coon said.

The garden, which will stand in a currently undeveloped part of the Aurora Water Xeriscape Demonstration Garden at 15151 E Alameda Pkwy, less than a mile away from the Century Aurora 16 theater, initially boasted a $400,000 fundraising goal that looked to be scaled back dramatically a year later. That first estimate came before the committee knew that the city would be donating the land, plants and maintenance for the garden.

“At the time, they (thought they) may have had to buy land,” said Aurora Councilwoman Barbara Cleland, who sat on the city-created committee on the project until last fall. The committee is led by the victims’ families.

“I think it’s going really well,” said Tom Sullivan, father of Alex Sullivan, who died in the shooting. “They’ve gotten more involved in the city with fundraising in the past year.”

The foundation has tried to organize one to two restaurant fundraisers per month — Cici’s Pizza is holding an all-day fundraiser Wednesday — and it ran a fundraising booth at the annual fourth of July event at the municipal center.

An ice-cream event is set from 4-6 p.m. Wednesday, in the spot in the park where the memorial will eventually stand. Residents can sign a banner honoring the recent Orlando nightclub shooting victims and can donate to Aurora’s memorial fund.

“There’s a ripple effect of evil that spreads, and maybe this will stop it, and be a (place) for love and peace and a place of healing, and to remember,” Coon said of the memorial. The garden will be open 24/7 and will be lit, Coon said — a fitting feature for the residents who have lit candles in memoriam for years.

“It’ll be a place (victims) can go for some reflection, or for anyone else to go for a quiet place for reflecting about situations they have in their lives,” Cleland said.

“I’m really excited for that day,” Coon said. “It’ll be beautiful, peaceful, and calm.”