Today in East Lansing: Vigils, Support Systems, Closures
On Monday night, a gunman killed three Michigan State University students and critically wounded five more. MSU’s campus and the city of East Lansing went into shelter-in-place mode for hours.
The three deceased MSU students have been identified as Arielle Anderson, junior, Grosse Pointe; Brian Fraser, sophomore, Grosse Pointe; and Alexandria Verner, junior, Clawson.
As many in the community are still left reeling, ELi brings you this rundown of what is happening today, to keep you informed about delays and closures along with opportunities for public grieving and private support.
Cancellations, Rescheduled Events and Adjustments:
Despite some City offices continuing to be closed, essential City employees will report to work to provide critical local government services. Regular City operations are scheduled to resume on Thursday, Feb. 16.
Today, closures include City Hall, East Lansing’s Prime Time seniors program and the Department of Public Works. Hannah Community Center and the public library are being offered for psychological support (more on that below).
Trash collection for today will be delayed a day. Trash scheduled for pickup Wednesday and Thursday will be collected on Thursday this week.
Winter property taxes are due and will be accepted without penalty through 5 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 16., at the East Lansing Finance Department in City Hall. (You can’t pay in person today, Wednesday.)
The Hannah Community Center is open today except for the Prime Time seniors program.
Many events scheduled for today have been canceled or rescheduled including the library Gift of Life event, the Library Board of Trustees meeting (now happening Feb. 22) and the Parks & Recreation Advisory Commission meeting.
Local, free psychological support opportunities continue:
The East Lansing Public Library will be open for community counseling services from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The East Lansing Hannah Community Center will be open from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. as a “central hub” for the community with counseling services offered free of charge from noon to 5:30 p.m.
Today’s activities at Hannah will follow up on yesterday’s when mental health professionals from Ingham County and the surrounding areas gathered to support the community.
Janet Lillie, the assistant vice president for community relations for MSU, said by 9 a.m. at Hannah they had 50 or 60 counselors from across the region who had offered their services. By 10 a.m, there were nearly 80.
As offers for support continued to roll in, organizers began taking down the volunteers’ contact information to bring them in later, as additional help was no longer needed in the short-term. (The tragedy will undoubtedly require a lengthy recovery for some.)
Lillie said the pop-up community support program received support from mental health professionals from Eaton and Shiawassee County and everywhere in between. The help allowed MSU to move many of their mental health staff to the residence halls to assist students.
MSU Director of Student and Community Relationships Sue Webster said MSU students, staff and members of the broader East Lansing community had all come to seek help. As of 4:30 p.m., more than 90 people had signed up for the counseling services, and many more visited the center to pet therapy dogs or just be around other community members.
Webster said they selected the Hannah Community Center because the location is accessible to students and other community members. The size of the building also provides many rooms for one-on-one or group counseling in private.
Lillie thanked volunteers and the many East Lansing residents who reached out to assist.
“We’ve had so many donations of food and snacks and beverages, and people reaching out to provide assistance in any way,” she said.
Besides the services offered to the entire community today at Hannah from noon to 5:30 p.m., MSU is offering assistance to students around the clock through its Counseling and Psychiatric Services program (CAPS).
The CAPS team consists of social workers, care managers, psychiatrists, counselors, psychologists and psychiatric nurses. Students can schedule a consultation with CAPS here. Additionally, the program offers crisis services at all hours that can be accessed by calling (517) 355-8270.
Special Ceremonies and Ways to Show Support:
A candlelight vigil at The Rock on MSU’s campus is scheduled for 6 p.m. today to honor the shooting victims and recognize the first responders for their heroic efforts. Some are expected to gather earlier (around 5 p.m.) near the Sparty statue to walk together to the vigil at The Rock on Farm Lane. Free parking is available near The Rock in the Giltner lot (lot 9) and the Bessey ramp (ramp 2).
For that event, the MSU Office of the Provost put out a call for volunteers on social media and was met with overwhelming support. The 30 volunteer slots to help set up, tear down, pass out items like candles, kleenex, water, etc., were quickly filled.
Also today, 7 p.m., the Peoples Church, 200 W. Grand River Avenue, will host an interfaith service across all religions represented in the wider community.
A GoFundMe campaign for one of the critically-injured students, Guadalupe Huapilla-Perez, is also receiving large amounts of support. Organized by her older sister, Selena, the campaign is raising money for the family of Guadalupe. She is a current Hospitality Business junior who comes from a migrant family from South Florida and is part of the Michigan State University College Assistance Migrant Program (CAMP). Her family has traveled up north to be at her side, so they are unable to work during this time.
Doctors have estimated months of care and rehab in order to make a full recovery, so hospital bills will likely mount. According to the GoFundMe page, money raised will help pay these bills to ensure Guadalupe has all the support she needs to recover.
How to stay informed:
Remember you can sign up for ELi’s East Lansing Insider newsletter here. You can follow us on Twitter and on Facebook, and you can reach us through this portal.
Now is also a good time to consider signing up for emergency alerts if you have not already done so.
To sign up for emergency alerts in East Lansing, open your phone texting app and put in the “phone” number 888777. Then in the text box, type in the zip code“48823” (just type those 5 digits) and hit send. That will get you East Lansing emergency alerts.
To sign up for emergency alerts sent out by MSU officials, open your phone texting app and put in the “phone” number 888777. Then in the text box, type in “MSUalert” (without the quotation marks) and hit send. That will get you MSU alerts.
Correction, 10:15 a.m.: Because of confusion about notices issued, this article incorrectly stated that the Hannah Community Center is closed today except for support services. The only programming cancelled at Hannah is the Prime Time seniors program.