(SWEETWATER) – Texas State Technical College Chancellor Mike Reeser met with students affected by the Feb. 7 Bluebonnet Inn dorm fire on the Sweetwater campus at a 2 p.m. gathering today.<\/p>\n
Chancellor Reeser reiterated his support for the students.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you enroll in TSTC, you become family,\u201d he told the students. \u201cWhen tragedy happens, a family gathers together. This meeting is to continue that opportunity for you to know that we care. We\u2019re here for you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Reeser said the college will do whatever it can to help students stay on track.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re going to make sure that we do everything in our power to make sure you reach the goal you set — to be a technician in a high-paying field,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re going to do all that we can to make sure this tragedy doesn\u2019t deter you, and the way we\u2019re going to do that is with our support for you.\u201d<\/p>\n
While no one was injured in the fire, the dorm and the students\u2019 belongings inside were a total loss. TSTC provided books and tools to the students affected, and elected officials, TSTC supporters, area colleges, businesses, churches and community members from the region have generously offered assistance.<\/p>\n
At the meeting, the students were presented with gift cards from Trinity Baptist Church, 4th & Elm Church of Christ and Goodwill-West Texas\u2019 Grounds Division to help replace lost possessions. EMA Electromechanics also made a donation to help the students.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe community really responded,\u201d said TSTC Provost Rick Denbow. \u201cIn less than a week\u2019s time, we\u2019ve had a lot of people reach out. We\u2019re still getting calls asking how they can help the students.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rep. Stan Lambert\u200b,\u200b District 71 (R-Abilene)\u200b,\u200b also spoke to the students.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are concerned, and we\u2019re trying to put ourselves in your shoes and understand what you\u2019re going through right now — not just the loss of physical possessions, but some of the emotions and mental issues that you may be dealing with right now,\u201d Lambert said. \u201cThe state of Texas is going to step up and do anything that we can to help you in this recovery effort.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lambert said he hopes to help ease the students\u2019 hardship.<\/p>\n
\u201cI live in Abilene just east of here,\u201d he said. \u201cWhat I tell parents who send their children to colleges, and even the Dyess airmen, I tell them, \u2018They\u2019re ours now. We\u2019ve adopted them.\u2019 We\u2019ve adopted you, because you\u2019re part of the Big Country. You\u2019re part of our family. I want you to know that we\u2019re committed to do anything we possibly can to help you make this transition as soon as possible and ease your burden.\u201d<\/p>\n
Those interested in donating to the students can give to the Sweetwater Fire Emergency Relief Fund at foundation.tstc.edu.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
(SWEETWATER) – Texas State Technical College Chancellor Mike Reeser met with students affected by the Feb. 7 Bluebonnet Inn dorm fire on the Sweetwater campus at a 2 p.m. gathering today. Chancellor Reeser reiterated his support for the students. \u201cWhen you enroll in TSTC, you become family,\u201d he told the students. \u201cWhen tragedy happens, a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2530","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sweetwater"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2530","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2530"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2530\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2531,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2530\/revisions\/2531"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}