Virginia Tech Creates Endowment Funds To Honor Each Of The 32 Shooting Victims

Wednesday, June 6th 2007, 6:33 pm

By: News On 6

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ Each of the 32 victims gunned down in the Virginia Tech massacre will be honored with a $100,000 endowment fund and their families will decide how the money will be used, the university said Wednesday.

The $3.2 million is almost half of the money donated to the Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund set up in the aftermath of the April 16 shootings.

Officials anticipate the first awards will be made this fall from each fund set up in the names of the 27 students and five faculty members.

``It's a noble gesture,'' said Paul Turner, father of 22-year-old Maxine Turner, of Vienna, Va., who was killed just weeks before she was to receive an honors degree and start a chemical engineering job.

But Turner said he believes it shows the school is acknowledging ``there were some errors made on the day and they're trying to put things right.''

A fund was not set up for gunman Seung-Hui Cho, who took his own life.

Nearly 20,000 donations were made to the school's Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund.

``People all over the world could not have been nicer for showing their support for Virginia Tech,'' said Elizabeth Flanagan, the school's vice president for development and university relations. ``We had no idea how many friends we really had.''

Flanagan recalled a conversation with a Hurricane Katrina victim who, despite having lost his home, called to say he was sending $10 to show his support for the ``Hokie family.''

``It is one big family and now we have a lot of extended members,'' Flanagan said.

Virginia Tech also plans to use some of the funds to pay for undergraduate education expenses for children of deceased faculty and financial counseling and mental health services for victims' families.

It also intends to help pay tuition and fees for injured students through spring semester 2008 as well as some of their medical costs. The fund also will pay for several full-time family advocates to work with the victims' families and make sure they receive proper services in a timely manner.