In addition to Sawyer Brown’s benefit concert and the hard work of hundreds of volunteers, many colleges and universities helped with APSU’s recovery efforts.

     Two truckloads of clothing and school supplies were delivered to campus from students at the University of Memphis.

     Driving one of the trucks was Daniel Armitage (’83), an Austin Peay alumnus who is a resident director at the University of Memphis. After seeing the tornado-devastated campus on television, Armitage telephoned Joe Mills, APSU’s director of housing and residence life, and asked what the University of Memphis could do to help.

A picture is worth a 1,000 words.  The tornado's devastation became real and personal to residents of this Harvill Hall room when they were allowed to return briefly to retrieve a few items before the hall was sealed off for safety precautions.   It will reopen next fall.

     Armitage and others began collecting donations from everyone. In addition to the $1,000 the group raised, they brought along pencils, notebooks, clothes and alarm clocks.

     Armitage was impressed by how efficiently and effectively APSU’s resident assistants responded during and after the tornado. He said, "You have a group of student employees...in the middle of the building as it’s being blown away. And they’re running students down to a safe area. It shows that training pays off."

     In addition to contributions from the University of Memphis, APSU received assistance from East Tennessee State University, Rhodes College, University of Tennessee at Memphis and State Tech at Memphis.

Volunteers -- the heart of rebuilding   Many hands make lighter the work!  On Monday, Jan. 25, hundreds of students, faculty, staff and community volunteers converged on campus to help clean up the debris remaining after large equipment had cut up or removed massive pieces of trees, roofs, light posts, etc.