Lamia Chowdhury wasn’t home when her roommate Zerin Rahman called. She rushed home to find smoke billowing out of her apartment building.
“I didn’t even know which issue to cry on. I was so sad and didn’t know what to do,” Chowdhury said. “But I realized that now wasn’t the time for crying, now was time to be thinking, ‘What can I do?’”
The blaze at River Crest Apartments in Shrewsbury on Oct. 7 displaced 30 people, 18 of which are current Webster University students. While all 18 students were able to evacuate safely, they lost almost all of their belongings in the fire and were left with nowhere to stay.
Webster’s Student Affairs administration called an urgent meeting the morning after the fire to discuss the best possible ways to help the students affected. They created a form for the students to fill out to assess their immediate needs and brought pizza to make sure they had something to eat for the time being.
The following morning, they met with students one-on-one in Marletto’s Marketplace to help them find a new place to live. Peer mentors had researched apartment complexes in the area with vacancies, and they further assessed what each student’s individual needs were. The American Red Cross was also present to help with emergent financial needs and care packages.
It was around this time when associate vice president for Student Affairs and dean of students John Buck and director of Housing and Residential Life Rachael Amick were getting calls from people in the community asking if they could donate items for the students affected. From this outpour of support came the idea for an item drive.
On Oct. 14, there was a Clothing and Essentials Collection Drive in the West Hall multipurpose room. Volunteers from all across campus and the community signed up to help run the drive. Donations came flooding in, filling not just the large multipurpose room, but an additional room as well. Clothing, shoes, cookware, luggage and bedding were brought in by the bag fulls.
“Webster is just a really kind community, they want to help,” Amick said.
At the clothing drive Chowdhury met Jody Spiess, an associate professor of Nursing, and commented on how much she impacted her.
“Everyone was so nice to me, but Jody was like a mom,” Chowdhury said.
Spiess was a public health nurse for years, so when she heard about the fire, she sent an email to Buck asking how she could help.
“We see the best in humanity when there is some kind of an emergency; when something tragic happens, it catches people’s attention and they want to help,” Spiess said.
She was there for part of the drive on Monday helping organize the clothes and items as they came.
“I would feel overwhelmed at some points. And then I would think, but this is a blessing. I can’t be overwhelmed. This is amazing,” Spiess said.
All students have found a temporary place to stay, or have started a new lease at a different apartment complex.
Webster has an online fundraising platform in case of emergencies called Gorlok Now!, and with it they raised over $10,000 for the students.
Student Affairs plans to check in with the students this week after they have all settled into their temporary or new residences to ensure they have everything they need and check if any new issues arise for them.
“Things could have been worse, but we are alive, and I’m happy and grateful for that,” Chowdhury said.
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