Jim Dickhans / SPPSSupport was shown for the Hokies in the form of gifts from across the nation.
Greg Beecher, associate director for Administrative Services, was one of the first to see many of the gifts that were sent to the school. Administrative Services gave out its address in Squires for those wishing to send their condolences. Beecher remembers the first few gifts coming from local Virginia schools such as James Madison University and Radford University, and tacking their gifts up on the boards in Squires next to the signs and cards that Tech students had already made.
"I don't know what triggered it, it's just that things started coming in. And that sounds like an understatement now," Beecher said. "Really, after they started coming in they would come in handfuls, and the post office started bringing these carts — these big laundry carts with wheels, you know, that you can hide a person or two in."
Beecher said one of the gifts that he remembers as especially heartwarming was from a Tech alumna who lives in Texas. The woman felt compelled to make over 7,000 care packages for students when she heard about the events on April 16. While making these care packages in her home in Texas, local news stations picked up on her story and people and companies started to give her donations. On one occasion, she got word that a donation was coming from as far away as Iraq.
"She got a phone call or an e-mail from a soldier in Iraq that notified her and said he is sending $1,000 for her for supplies. She said 'Look, I'm not a 501(c)(3), I'm not a non-profit agency, you don't even know me,'" Beecher said, retelling her story. "And he said, 'That's OK, I trust you. I'm sending you this money so you can put it for these packages.'"
With the money, the woman shipped all 7,000 packages, and she and a friend flew to Blacksburg to stand in the Squires atrium and hand them out themselves.
In addition to a flurry of gifts, gestures around the nation and the world were made in support of the Tech community. Beecher said that schools lit up important buildings with orange and maroon lights, and Niagra Falls was glowed orange and maroon.
There was also a Tech flag taken up in a space shuttle, flags flown above various embassies and a flag flown at the Statue of Liberty.
Beecher recalled receiving an American flag that was crocheted by a lady in North Carolina, a banner from a church in South Korea and an orange life preserver that was signed by the US Coast Guard in Puerto Rico, among thousands of other gifts.
He also remembers seeing over 700 banners come in, with countless other cards and handcrafted items. Each item was unique to the person, community, or institution that sent it.
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