Most people are aware of the fire that took place over at Hampden-Sydney College on Wednesday, Jan. 25, in the early morning. The fire burned down a Tiger Athletic College (TAC) house that housed nine football players. Unfortunately, two of the residents were burned, with one being severely burned. Benjamin Rogers was reportedly treated for minor burns, while Kirk Rohle suffered second and third degree burns. Rohle is the younger sibling of Longwood graduate Hannah Rohle and is reportedly in stable condition. This event was terrible and should never happen to anyone, and I'm glad there were not any fatalities.
This event caught the attention of the Sigma Nu fraternity here at Longwood University. Sigma Nu had a bowling night on Thursday, Jan. 26, with all the proceeds going to support the TAC. President Patrick Finnegan also sent out an email explaining what took place and promoting Sigma Nu's efforts to collect "clothing, non-perishable food, electronics and other essential items." I have also heard that women involved in Longwood athletics have been cooking meals for the affected students.
As a Longwood student, I am glad to see campus groups supporting neighbors who have lost most or all of their belongings. As a proud member of our Greek community, I am also happy that a fraternity took charge in helping our neighbors.
With all that being said, I'm not afraid to admit that I'm skeptical on how the fire took place. It was reported by the Richmond Times-Dispatch that the fire was started by a "cigarette butt that smoldered for hours on a couch on the porch of the two story house." I hope for the investigation to be completed and presented to the media to find out exactly how the fire took place.
The response to the Hampden-Sydney fire had me thinking of the long history of struggles Longwood has faced. Whether it was the fire at the golf course, the flooding at the parking lot or staff losing vehicles from a fire, I can't recall our neighbors at Hampden-Sydney or an organization at Longwood hosting a philanthropic event for these unfortunate events. I believe that Longwood could work harder to support our own campus, rather than assisting a school with an already strong support system.
Finally, I wonder if this incident had taken place in the town of Farmville to someone within the community with no ties to Longwood and they lost everything, would the student body be reaching out to them? My guess is probably not.
Once again, I believe that what Sigma Nu and the rest of the student body are doing for TAC is great, and I'm glad president Finnegan brought it to everyone's attention through an email. As fellow students we understand the stress that comes with being a college student and to add some tragic event, like this fire, doesn't help. People may believe that I'm cold hearted for writing this, but my love for philanthropy has driven me to write this opinion.
As a member of Phi Kappa Tau, I currently hold the philanthropy position, and we raise money for a scholarship in the name of a fallen brother, Shane Adcock. Captain Shane Adcock graduated from Longwood in 2003 and was killed in action in 2006. Money is also raised for our national philanthropy, Hole in the Wall, which is a camp for terminally ill children focused on giving these children an opportunity to live life like regular kids. Longwood also annually holds The Big Event, in which students go out and help the community for a day, which I'm proud to have participated in every year. Students are quick to rally for our peers, but what about those around us that don't have the support system our universities offer? According to the 2010 census, Prince Edward County has 16.9% living below the poverty line and the state average is 10.3%.
Where I'm trying to go with this is that the student body needs to be more aware of what is going on in the Farmville community. We are lucky to share this small town with the residents who live here, so I believe we need to reach out and help the community more often. There are a lot of people in the community who are a lot less fortunate than the majority of the students at Longwood and Hampden-Sydney.
In just my years at Longwood, I have witnessed many businesses forced to close with their struggles being no secret to the community. If organizations on campus, especially Greek life, held events at these businesses like the Just Desserts on Main Street that closed, maybe they would still be open. We have a unique opportunity to make a significant impact in an entire community more than just one day out of the year.
These pop up philanthropy events are great and necessary because no one can predict events like this fire. With that said, I feel that we could use the energy we have for this Hampden-Sydney fire and use it for a community issue, such as the potential budget cuts at Cumberland Public Schools.
At Longwood we preach about acting as citizen leaders. I believe helping people who aren't as fortunate as you or who are in need of help is a great blueprint to become that citizen leader. This is I, Peter Mancuso, calling out all the student body and organizations at Longwood, starting with Phi Kappa Tau, to reach out to the 16.9% and make a difference together!
