In response to the tragic shootings at Virginia Tech senior Scott Brown and the Student Assembly have teamed up to sell “We Remember” bracelets to raise money for Virginia Tech’s Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund.
p. The 2500 maroon and 2500 orange bracelets will feature the College’s and Virginia Tech logos and the words “We Remember.” On the other side of the bracelet will be the date of the shooting, 4/16/07.
p. Brown, who also planned the College’s five-year 9-11 memorial, came up with the idea as a way for students to show solidarity with Tech. He contacted SA president and vice president, sophomores Zach Pilchen and Valerie Hopkins asking for their support. Pilchen and Hopkins were also looking for a way to respond to the Tech shootings.
p. “We wanted to address in the long-term what we could do for Tech,” Hopkins said. “Coming together as a community to grieve was an important way to deal with the tragedy. Now, we have to reach out to their community.”
p. The SA senate passed the “We Are All Hokies” bill that allocated money to pay for 5000 bracelets. A second bill was also introduced in the senate by senior James Evans and freshman Ryan Eickel to express the College’s condolences to Virginia Tech.
p. “By purchasing the bracelets, it’s a small way that we, as a community, can convey a tremendous message to the Tech community that we are united,” Brown said. “If each student buys two bracelets, that’s a $10,000 contribution to the fund from the student body.”
p. He plans to send two bracelets to College alum Jon Stewart, ’88, in hopes that he will wear them on the Daily Show.
The bracelets will arrive on campus today and students will be able to purchase them for a minimum donation of $2 beginning at the King and Queen’s Ball and, pending approval, the My Chemical Romance concert on Saturday. The bracelets will also be on sale all next week at the UC and outside of Swem Library.
A hundred percent of the proceeds from the sale of the bracelets will go to the Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund, which was set up by Virginia Tech.
p. According to the Fund’s website, the fund uses donated money to pay for “assistance to victims and their families, grief counseling, memorials, communication expenses and comfort expenses.”
