Student reaches out to Colorado community at Steppin’ Out
Cindy Stauffer (right) talks with "Comfort for Colorado" participants Saturday. Photo by Mike Shaw | The Burgs
BLACKSBURG – Like many other vendors, 19-year-old Cindy Stauffer manned a booth for several hours during this year’s Steppin’ Out street festival in downtown Blacksburg.
No, the sophomore at the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore wasn’t selling anything, nor was she collecting money for college-related expenses.
She was simply sharing her heart with a community more than 1,500 miles away.
The Blacksburg native said the recent theater shooting in Aurora, Colo. hit home for her, like it did for those connected to the events of the April 16 shootings.
That’s when she decided to organize the “Comfort for Colorado,” encouraging people to send cards to the Aurora community.
“After the tragedy in [Aurora] I was trying to figure out the best way possible to help their community,” Stauffer said. “After the Virginia Tech tragedy there was an enormous outpouring of support from all over the world coming to our little town in southwest Virginia.”
Stauffer’s idea evolved.
First, her plan was to make a few cards before she was given the opportunity to share her idea with the community at a booth during Steppin’ Out.
Downtown Blacksburg Inc. allowed Stauffer to set up a space at the Farmers Market and supplies for the booth were donated by South Main Chiropractic and Mish Mish.
After the event, Stauffer said 75 cards were signed and mailed to Aurora early this week.
“It’s rare for a community to be able to say, ‘We know how you feel,’ but this is one of those situations,” Stauffer said. “I remembered just how much it meant to have so much support and I felt it was only appropriate for the Blacksburg community to do the same for a community in a similar situation.”
“They will be getting support from a community that can relate and understands.”
The Roanoke Times | 381-8627
No Comments »
No comments yet.
RSS feed for comments on this post.
