National groups help with local support
Ellen Biltz, CT Senior Reporter
April 20 2007
Red Cross, The Salvation Army and the Second Harvest Food Bank are just some of the organizations working around the clock to provide food, blood and counseling to the Virginia Tech community.
Jana Zehner, spokeswoman for the Red Cross said the local branch has done a good job of collecting blood year round, so blood demand wasn't really the issue they were dealing with; it was more within their other relief projects.
"The local Red Cross has a fabulous mental health component so they've been able to train volunteers and get activated immediately," Zehner said.
They are providing counseling to students, first responders, troopers as well as families.
"We have workers waiting at the baggage claim for when families get there," Zehner said. "They help them get their things and shuttle them down."
The Salvation Army and Second Harvest have also been working with the Red Cross to provide food to people on campus.
Sam Krunsburg, Corp Sergeant Major for the Salvation Army said they've had a truck on campus since Monday providing food to police and rescue services, as well as families who visit campus. Monday, they were outside Norris Hall, where the majority of first responders were located, but since then, they have been stationed outside the Inn at Virginia Tech.
The majority of the volunteers for the Salvation Army are student from Radford University and other Virginia schools.
"They come in for three- to four-hour cycles," Krunsburg said. "I think they come out because it's students feeling like they're helping students."
Amber Brand and Sarah Cecil-Harris, two volunteers working the canteen in the truck for the Salvation Army said they came out to help because they knew it was something they could do to get involved.
"I just really wanted to be able to help, so when I heard the Salvation Army was asking from a friend, I, of course, said, Īsure'," Brand said.
Cecil-Harris said she's had a lot of contact with Virginia Tech through the Upward Bound program and some classes, so it seemed natural for her to get involved.
"We're two different schools but we're too close to be different schools. When this disaster happened, it affected the whole community, not just this school," she said.
Krunsburg said it's been nice to have the volunteers handing out food because it opens of the corps' members' time for other things.
"I met with a father of one of the students who died earlier and had a prayer and a word of encouragement with him, and its great to have the time to do that," he said.
A lot of the food the Salvation and Army and Red Cross is distributing has come from the Second Harvest Food Bank, said Pamela Irvine, the food bank's executive director.
"We helped them work through the logistics of getting the food in and getting everything set up," she said.
The food bank has also left a refrigerated truck sit outside the Inn running so that they could keep perishable food close buy.
Irvine said the minute she heard the food bank could do something to help on campus, she knew they'd be there.
"Hokies have helped us feed people in southwest Virginia for years, so we wanted to do something to give back," she said.
Hokies for Hunger was one of many on-campus programs that helped donate food to the food bank, and Irvine said they always have a steady flow of volunteers, many of which are from the Tech community.
"What we can do this week is nothing compared to the support we've gotten from Tech," she said.