AMHERST — In the lobby at Hampden Commons in the Southwest Area of the University of Massachusetts campus, five large cardboard boxes are filled with clothes, toiletries and houseware items, representing a fraction of the donations that have come from the community following last weekend’s Olympia Place fire.
On Wednesday afternoon, the second day that the New2U store has been the base of operations for assisting the 230 students who lost all of their possessions in the blaze that began Friday night, 13 of the displaced tenants dropped by. Those students are receiving a $100 voucher for anything at the store, in addition to unlimited access to clothing and toiletries through the end of November.
Ezra Small, the campus sustainability manager, said having New2U as a base of operations for non-food items made sense, rather than having the larger community take donations to various places on campus that would have to be transported to the site.
Typically, the store is busier at the beginning of the semester, with students looking to outfit their dorm rooms and off-campus apartments.
“There’s nothing else going on other than responding to the effort,” Small said. “This went from being a slow period during the semester to all out.”
This includes a team organizing and making sure it could respond to the demands, with students able to pick out anything from shirts and pants to jackets, linens and furnishings.
“We’re trying to get them what they need,” Small said.
Signs on the doors to the building, as well as along a walkway, make it clear that this is a place for Olympia Place residents to come, along with donors.
Among those dropping off items was Chris Edgerly, who said she traveled 90 minutes from her home to bring clothes, as well as food to the campus pantry.
“I feel so terrible,” Edgherly said. “These kids lost everything.”
Observing that her daughter is a graduate student at UMass and that she would want the same if something similar happened, traveling across the state seemed appropriate.
“I would just wish someone would help out if they could,” Edgerly said.
In addition to the New2U, UMass established the Emergency Resource Center, which reopened Wednesday, following Veterans Day, and will remain open Thursday to assist Olympia Place residents with other needs. In addition to identifying possible on-campus housing assignments, off-campus housing representatives will be on hand.
That center will also be a place for distribution of loaner laptops and replacement UCards (student IDs), while staff from the Office of Global Affairs will be present to support international students with documentation needs, though the I-20 forms, certificates of eligibility for nonimmigrant students, have already been reissued.
Others expected to be there were the American Red Cross, the Salvation Army, and the Center for Counseling and Psychological Help.
UMass spokeswoman Emily Gest said by email that the university is trying to meet students where they are, understanding that there are constantly changing needs under the circumstances.
“This is an emerging situation and we are working to address the immediate needs of the students affected by the fire,” Gest said.
As an example of that, over the weekend some of these students told UMass officials that they would like campus housing, but then by Monday changed their mind, while others weren’t yet ready to commit to a decision on where they will live.
It’s uncertain how many of the students have found permanent accommodations, Gest said. Some have posted on social media about returning to their hometowns to sort through the situation.
The Student Care & Emergency Response Fund has collected more than $226,000 from 2,337 gifts, with a microgrant process to distribute money on a case-by-case basis.
Several of the displaced students have created GoFundMe pages, or friends and family have made them on their behalf. Those offer at least some insights about what happened when the fire broke out at the neighboring construction site and spread to Olympia Place, with some leaving with only the clothes on their back. They reference losing everything they had with them, including laptops and musical instruments.
Anika Maharaj, a psychology and public health student, wrote on her GoFundMe page: “I’m lucky to be safe, but I’ve lived there for the past three years and lost nearly everything I own. Any support means so much and will help me take the next step toward rebuilding.”
In another, Somerset Buchanan wrote on behalf of her son, UMass senior Derrek Buchanan, that he lost “his computers, his electronics, his clothing, his kitchenwares, his furniture, his irreplaceable collectables, as well as his BrickLink inventory for his business.”
And a cousin wrote about Nora Giannetti, co-president of the UMass Sales Club at the Isenberg School of Management, “Nora was incredibly lucky to be away in Florida at the time of the fire, competing in a sales competition where she proudly represented her university. But while we are so thankful that she is safe, she is returning home to find that she had lost everything.”
UMass Chancellor Javier Reyes released a statement Monday outlining what has been done:
“Since early Saturday morning, our teams have concentrated on assessing students’ immediate needs and helping them access housing, food and medicine. Nearly two dozen students shared that they did not have available housing; they were all offered on-campus accommodations. Our Off Campus Housing Office is ensuring all students are connected to properties with immediate availability.”
In addition to offering free meals in dining halls, UMass has suggested to faculty that they offer flexibility to the affected students to help them stay on track for success in their courses, and there are plans in the works to develop a workshop to help students learn how to return to the normal academic mindset.