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On a beautiful campus in the middle of a peaceful Virginia morning, shots are fired and the shock of 33 murdered students and faculty brings us all to grief. The Am. Red Cross Mental Health Dept. of Blacksburg, Virginia, in support of the Campus Counseling Center of Virginia Tech., requested 200 teddy bears to help in the process of comforting students and family members. Our prayers are with them.
Over 1,200 bears arrived in Enterprise, Alabama with the help of the 1-131st Airborne Unit of the Alabama National Guard. Red Cross workers and soldiers worked tirelessly to unload the boxes and quickly distribute the bears to students returning to whatever school area was available.
Little sisters got to share as the bears were given to those in need. Special thanks to all who helped!
Violent storms that struck the small town of Enterprise in southern Alabama, left more than 50 people hospitalized, and eight students dead. They were trapped during class when a tornado partially destroyed their high school.
Elaine Roberts of the American Red Cross in Enterprise, stated that their were 1200 students effected by this tragedy through the loss of their friends and homes. "It was devastating! DO what you can ... get as many bears here as you can ... as quickly as you can. The kids are at a loss." Thanks to the effforts of Board Member Craig Klainberg of Berklay Shipping and Charley Clark, son of Board Member Mary Clark and Rev. Stuart Clark, 1200 teddies will be delivered. Charley, who lives on the Post in Enterprise, and his 131st Aviation Unit of the Alabama Natioanl Guard will airlift 3 skids of teddies by helicopter, if necessary, to get the bears to the kids quickly. Sometimes comfort comes in small packages.... and sometimes with extrordinary effort.
Counselors at the college welcomed teddy bears as "helping huggers", while they sought to comfort grieving students.
Four members of the Varsity Baseball Team enroute to a game in Florida were killed when the bus in which they were traveling plunged over a bridge in Atlanta. This small Mennonite College in Northern Ohio was deeply shocked and saddened. The driver and his wife also were killed, and 29 other people on the bus--all teammates and coaches--suffered injuries.
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