Thank you for your emails, phone calls, and prayers. I am just now able to get back to everyone as I was completely devastated and overwhelmed last week. While I would love to respond to everyone individually, it would be impossible since I received over 1000 emails.
Today was the third day of classes since the tragedy. The mood on campus is somewhat of a hopeful melancholy. While some things are getting back to "normal" (most of the media has left), we all know that our community is very different.
The Christian community has been a source of hope on campus. We have had many prayer and worship times, some planned and others were informal. Our Large Group meeting on Friday with the Korean-American fellowship allowed us to grieve, heal, reconcile and declare our adoration of the Lord Christ Jesus. Alumni, members of the community, and local IV chapters came to support us and worship with us.
Many of you have asked what you could do to help. Here are a few ways that you can help financially:
To support the families of the victims: http://www.vt.edu/tragedy/memorial_fund.php
To support the work of InterVarsity at Virginia Tech: www.intervarsity.org/donors
(Search for Virginia Tech)
In Christ,
Wes Barts
Wes Barts
InterVarsity @ VT
www.passionfortech.com
Here's a recent New York Times article sent to me from Katie at NCHM on payday lending. I know that the NCUD / CTCU-EPA partnership is going to have to create the right program addressing the needs for short term lending for low income families. We don't have the answers yet, but it's definitely on our radar. APPLETON, Wis. — This city of 70,000 has five McDonald’s franchises, three Pizza Huts, four Starbucks shops — and 19 payday loan stores, brightly lighted storefronts with names like EZ Money and Check Into Cash that offer two-week loans without credit checks. Peggy Truckey, 53, knows the allure. Last year she owed nearly $1,300 to four of those stores, and was paying about $600 a month in finance fees alone. “I thought I was going to have to take a second job just to pay off the interest,” Ms. Truckey said. Then she heard about a new nonprofit program operated out of a Goodwill thrift store, one of several hundred lower-cost payday loan products that are now bein...
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