Beautiful Gardens - Outreach & International Affairs - Virginia Tech

proposing, he had no problem findinga liaison fo r each of the victims' families.Mo, t are in Student Affairs, but afew people in the G raduate Scha I alsoserve as liaisons for the graduate studentcame the clea ringho use for the hundredsof gifts that arrived for the families ofthe deceased. Rooms in the convertedho use o n \X/est R()a no ke Street werepiled to the ceiling \Vith packages. Peoplefamilies.sent hundreds of prayer shawls - each There are se\·eral quilts of condo lence."People just steppeJ up and sa id , 'I'll dofamily got about a dozen. Books o n "These quilts might each norm ally be ait,' and were quick to say, 'but you' ll havecoping w ith tragedy arri\'ed by the dozen, yea r's project, but they were done in ato tell me how [() do it'as did teddy bears. The staff finally set month's time. And there was a memo rialup the conference room with boxes and with drawings of each victim that came"A nd so we took o n the role of trainingthem and sharing the ex periencepiles of gifts a nd invited the victims' in within a week of the traged y - it \Vasf.lil1ilies to help themselves.amazing," he adds.we ga ined over the years in workingMessages and gifts of condo lence alsowith bereaved families. But again, weSome things ca me with no return....---figured it out as we went that ----------­ ----------, address, no notc. "Virginia Tec h isweek, and people were so good "1 ~tftW "ItedHfle~~ a-l Mtft"1 Idek people trying to send everyo ne rt thankabout it."Y()U no te, but in some cases, it'stfll\-ficipa-4ifl"l -fhe fleea/'i (if be{eave~impossible."Brown found his inability [()obtain the names of injuredftflM'llle~, people -Iabfl~ cIMe of -Ihe For Estrada, his ex peri ence was anstudents from area hospiraisintense introduction to the VirginiaCtfl{e"llvet~, people 0111-101011\1 ..jheM'lelv'e~ -tove rv frustrating, but he knew theTech com munity. "\Vhen I showhospitals could not leua Uy give Make 'i1i1{e -Ih ·l~ Ii1l\iv'et'ii-l~ f1A1\c-Jl1.ll\e~ tfI-t pc'o ple through the collectio n,him that information. He finallythey see all different levels of thea -lIMe of- 'I\ctea/,hle 'i-lte'i~ fo all of V1~ .left a stack of business ca rdsstory, but in the end, all these actswith the director of Montgo me ry I wa, "ever ptoV1"/er -10 he a J.}obe" of kindness from around the worldRegio nal Hospita l, where mostCHARLES w. STEGER show the sharing and the ca ring.of the injured were treated, andPresident of Virginia Tech --- --....1 The lesson we are learning from thisasked him to give them out sooverwhelmed Steger's office, whe rewhole th i ng is th,1t the world ca res."families could contact him. Directo r ofvolunteers ca me in to open and logPhone Banks and FoodCareer Services Do nna Cassell-Ratcliffethe thousa nds of items that arrivedLess visible, but no less impo rtant, we revolunteered to coordinate the volunreerli aisons fo r the injureJ students.each day by mail. UPS, and Federal Express.At Squires Student Center, Stevethe employees who quietly kept theuniversity running and provided behindthe-scenesA Sea of CondolencesEstrada faced a daily wave of messagessu ppo rt. In times of c risis,The Dean of Students' Office also be­and gifts that was overwhelmin u ,people find comfort in ro utine andespecially for a new employee whodeeply appreciate those who he lp ma kestarted working at Virginia Tech ona n unusual wo rkload seem lighter. "JustMarch l5 as [In ad ministrative assistanttel/us what you need a nd we will ma keto work on hudgets. Mo re than LOOit happen" become magica I words.volunteers made it possible to cope.And these words became the sloga n for"The main d atabase reco rding the gifts isAssociate Vice President fo r Netwo rkover 1,000 pages long," says Estrada.Infrastructure and Sen ·ices Judy LillyAmong the gifts sent to the unive rsityare the flag that flew at half-staff April17 at the \X/ hite House. Folded into a triangleby the Marines and framed, it a r­rived with a note sayi ng the flag was sentat the request o f an alumnus. S\)meonedo nated flagpo les and fla gs representingthe country of o rigin of each the victims.There is a letter to the C lass of 2007from President Bush.Banners signed by studenrs withmeSS3"es of condolence came fro mschools and colleges acro:;s the coun-O"treachNOW 14try. "The largest one we received is abanner 1,006 feet, 10 inches lo ng fromEastern Michigan U niversity -it's thelength of the Commo nwealth Ball roo m,"Estrada says.and her staff, who are respo nsible fo r theuniversity's computer and telephone systems,both critical in an emergency. Theyset up around 25 call centers by April 17,including those fo r the po lice, the PublicInfo rma.tion Call Center, the VirginiaTec h Parent Info rmatio n Line, the RedC ross, a nd the H o kie Spirit MemorialFund. They showed up with fax machines,extra telephones, and no tebook computersready to access the unive rsity', wirelessnetwork whenever asked.They waived the customary paperwo rk.