amishschool

The events that took place on October 2nd in a 1 room Amish schoolhouse in Bart Township will live in the minds of many. The Bart Township Fire Company would like to thank everyone that helped us in so many ways.

Notice: The local banks have closed accounts for the victims funds. Please forward any contributions to: NMAC - Nickel Mines Accountability Committee, Treasurer Amos K. Esh, 959 Georgetown Road, Paradise, PA 17562

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ONE YEAR AFTER

Almost a year ago, on October 2, 2006, the tragic disaster of the shooting at the Nickel Mines Amish School struck our community. Five girls were hospitalized, five girls were laid to rest, and families’ lives were shattered. Our whole community was shocked and is grieving since that fateful day.

In this year our department and our community have been tested and tried. Together we were able to work our way through these difficult times. Our fire company was able to meet our responsibilities to the community during this tragic event and in the months that followed due to the support we received from our neighboring Fire companies, Emergency Medical Services, Law Enforcement forces, and the South Central Pennsylvania Regional Counter-Terrorism Task Force.

The Bart Township Fire Company supplied the facility and leadership for the response to this event. As the world watched Fire, EMS, and Law Enforcement worked hand in hand with the Amish Community. In fact, many volunteer members of our fire company are Amish. However without the support of our community, this tragic event may have been worse.

Counseling sessions were held at the fire station for months following the incident. Separate sessions were offered for the families, Fire/EMS, and the community. The Nickel Mines Accountability Committee that was established to receive and disburse funds contributed in response to this tragedy holds its meetings in the fire station.

Hundreds of packages and thousands of letters flowed through the fire station. All packages and letters were sorted and checked before being distributed to the families. Volunteers from the community helped our fire company sort and distribute as many as 900 letters a day during those first weeks.

The Special Division (Ladies Auxiliary) of the Bart Township Fire Company, with help from community and local businesses, provided three meals a day to all Fire, EMS, Law Enforcement, and the Amish families of those involved during that first week. They served more than 800 meals a day during the time of the funerals.

We as a fire company have learned that life will never return to what it was before

October 2, 2006. We have also learned through this tragic event that we live in a community where people care about one another and put the needs of others first. With this support we will work through the future that lies ahead.

The Bart Township Fire Company has no memorial remembrance planned for October 2^nd. But each day we carry a living memorial in our hearts and minds of this tragic event and of the community’s generous response. We ask that you keep the children and their families in your prayers.

Today a delegation consisting of 29 members of the New Hope Amish School (formerly the West Nickel Mines Amish School) families and children and members of the Nickel Mines Accountability Committee traveled to Virginia Tech. Their purpose was to transfer the “comfort quilt” and to meet with school officials and families that were affected by the shootings on their campus April 16.

The Amish community felt the need to pass on the comfort quilt soon after hearing of the shootings at Virginia Tech. (see attached comfort quilt history) The quilt provided much comfort for the community after the schoolhouse shootings. It is a symbol of people caring for one another, especially children caring and thinking of other children in difficult times and providing some comfort to them. The comfort quilt was displayed at the Bart Twp. Fire Co. since its arrival.

The quilt will be presented by some of the Amish school children to the Provost of the university. Others in attendance will be top school officials, teachers, and families of students and teachers killed in the shooting. A visit to Norris Hall where the shootings took place and to the memorial site is planned before the return to Lancaster County.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

3/31/2007 Nickel Mines- Members and there families were invited to visit the new Amish School House in Nickel Mines. A crew watered the freshly laid sod in the schoolyard. Even a few of the Amish school children were able to help out by watering their new schoolyard with the forestry line.

During the meeting, member Paul Beiler and his wife presented a painting to the Company. Mrs. Beiler painted the Amish school house with children playing on the fence as she remembered it on White Oak Rd.

After Shooting, Amish School Embodies Effort to Heal

NICKEL MINES, Pa., Jan. 30 — Nearly four months ago, a milk delivery-truck driver lined up 10 girls in a one-room schoolhouse in this Amish farming community and opened fire, killing five of them and wounding five others before turning the gun on himself.

Skip to next paragraph

Enlarge This Image

Kalim A. Bhatti for The New York Times

A new schoolhouse is going up in Nickel Mines, Pa., to replace the one where 10 students were shot last year.

The New York Times

Nickel Mines is part of Bart Township, home to about 2,700 people.

Enlarge This Image

Ryan Collerd for The New York Times

The firehouse in Bart Township was the command center after the shooting. Many of the fire company’s volunteer firefighters are Amish.

Ten days after the shooting, Amish leaders demolished the school building, which stood off a quiet two-lane road. And about a month later, Amish residents, including relatives of the girls who had been killed, banded together to build a one-room schoolhouse about 200 yards from the old one, on an acre of land owned by an Amish farmer.

The school, to be finished in mid-February, is set to open in March. Brick with beige siding, it has a front porch and sits behind a set of farmhouses, shielded from view of those passing on the nearby road. There are “No Trespassing” signs at the entrances.

For now, students are attending class in a local garage.

“They wanted to get the kids in as protective an atmosphere as they could,” said John Coldiron, a zoning officer for Bart Township, where Nickel Mines is situated . “It’s very private.”

Mr. Coldiron, who has been involved with the construction since ground was broken this month, said the new schoolhouse had sturdier windows and doors and stronger locks than the old one.

“This is kind of a washing — getting rid of the old and putting up the new,” he said. “It’s all really good stuff” for the community.

For others, the school “is a symbol of hope,” said Rita Rhoads, 53, a Mennonite who is a certified nurse midwife and helped in the births of some of the shooting victims. “We want the kids to just quietly show up one day and go to school normally.”

Four of the five girls who were wounded have returned to class. One remains in a coma and is being cared for at home, Ms. Rhoads said.

Confronted with tragedy, the Amish are taught to forgive and go on. And that is what the 2,700 residents of Bart Township have been trying to do since the attack, on Oct. 2. “People don’t fuss about it,” Mary Stoltzfus, 36, a member of the community, said outside Fisher’s Houseware and Fabrics. “It has calmed down.”

Ms. Rhoads said that although the victims’ families and friends had been devastated, “there’s no anger.”

“There is a lot of ‘why?’ ” she said. “But life goes on. The healing continues. It’s not to say they’re not sad. They are sad. They are mourning, but they’re doing well.”

The Amish and the non-Amish have given the widow of the gunman, Charles C. Roberts IV, and the couple’s three children comfort and unconditional support. Neighbors put up a Christmas tree at the local volunteer fire hall and decorated it with toys and gift cards for the family. Soccer players at Solanco High School in nearby Quarryville made it a point to show their encouragement by attending soccer matches played by the Robertses’ young son Brice.

Donations from around the world have poured into funds set up to help pay burial expenses for the dead and medical costs for the survivors, Ms. Rhoads said. A pregnant teacher at the school whom Mr. Roberts allowed to leave before he started shooting gave birth to a baby girl and named her after one of the youngest victims, Naomi Rose Ebersole, 7.

“The whole world has been great to us with their donations and support,” said Chief H. Curtis Woerth of the Bart Township Fire Company. The schoolhouse had been a mile from the fire station, and Chief Woerth’s eyes welled up as he recalled the day.

“Our hearts, they’ll never mend,” he said. “It’s just like it was yesterday to all of us. It’s what we’re trained to do, but when you sit in those classes all those hours, you never think it will be something so close to you.” Members of his department still receive counseling to help them deal with the shooting.

Rich Ressel, an emergency medical technician and a volunteer firefighter who was among the first to arrive at the school, said he was haunted each time he heard the sound of a horse-drawn buggy.

“I’ll never forget the pitter-patter of the horse hooves going down the street for the funerals,” Mr. Ressel said. “It was so quiet. We stood out front of the station when they went by. Every time I hear that, it brings me back to it.”

On the wall in a firehouse dining room is a watercolor of the schoolyard painted by a local artist, Elsie Beiler. Its title is “Happier Days,” and it depicts the Amish children of Nickel Mines playing, without a care, before the shooting. Five birds, which some say represent the dead girls, circle in the blue sky above.

Ms. Beiler said the fact that she knew some of the victims’ families had inspired her to paint the scene and to donate some of the money from the sale of prints to the victims’ fund. “I pray for the families of the children,” Ms. Beiler said. “And I thought about what a struggle it was for them to live out each day in forgiveness.”

11/05/2006 - A special thank you to Brad Kurtz, Chief 4-2, of the Gap Fire Company for organizing an evening out for Station 5-1 members and their families. Members from Gap, Christiana and Eden fire companies joined us as well. Two tour buses carried us to the Giant Center in Hershey to watch the Hershey Bears vs. the Philadelphia Phantoms. Once there, 2 rooms were stocked with food and drinks for us. Everyone had a great time despite the Bears losing 5 to 1.

By ANYA LITVAK, New Era Staff Writer
Blue and gray uniforms graced the front rows of the commissioners' meeting room this morning, as the first responders to the West Nickel Mines Amish schoolhouse shooting were honored by the county.

Their faces betrayed nothing.

The honorees sat silently, their shoulders back, their faces solemn, as the commissioners readied to extend the county's gratitude to the men and women who handled the tragedy on that October day.

"It's just something that we do," said Hen Woerth, chief of the Bart Township Fire Company. "We've just never done it on this scale before."

They are not heroes, they insisted. They're workers.

With a proclamation from the county commissioners, Lancaster County today officially honored dozens of emergency workers and departments that responded to the Oct. 2 schoolhouse shooting in Bart Township.

"It's overwhelming," said Lt. Allen Krawczel, a Pennsylvania State Trooper who worked the day of the shooting. "We don't do what we do for this recognition. You do that because it comes from something within."

That's why there are no stars, no heroes to be singled out, the group explained. They were all part of a united team that day, even as each of them now seeks peace in their own way.

Robert May, the Executive Director of the Lancaster Emergency Medical Service Association, said "the processing of the tragedy normally occurs post-event."

"I think it's important that this group gets together like this," May said, "for long-term closure."

But the emergency workers gathered at the courthouse this morning didn't want to talk about themselves, how they helped or how they're coping.

Rather, they focused on recognizing each other as a team.

"It's everyone," Krawczel said. "From the fire police out at traffic control points to all the individuals, investigators and EMS that assisted at the scene, that acted to bring this to an end."

"To the auxiliary fire companies that provided meals," Woerth added. "They'd start at 5 (a.m.) cooking eggs and wouldn't stop till 10 at night."

For all those affected by the schoolhouse shooting, Commissioner Chairman Dick Shellenberger offered a prayer.

"Grant us love, forgiveness so that this county can receive healing and grace to move on," he said, his voice trembling with emotion.

Chins to their chests, the first responders lined a wall in the commissioners' meeting room and prayed along.

Each was presented with a proclamation, inside a leather case, recognizing their efforts during and after the day of the shooting.

"It's good to be in Lancaster County," Woerth told his colleagues after the meeting. There may have only been 11 of them at the meeting, but it was a county-wide response, he said.

Many emergency service organization were honored for their response and efforts. The list follows:

Law enforcement units that responded the day of the shooting were: Pennsylvania State Police; Lancaster County Sheriff's Office; Lancaster County District Attorney's Office; Christiana, Quarryville, Strasburg, East Lampeter, and Southern Regional police departments; and Maryland State Police.

Medical groups honored were: Bart Township Quick Response Service; Christiana, Gordonville, White Horse and New Holland ambulances; Lancaster Emergency Medical Service Association (LEMSA), Susquehanna Valley Emergency Medical Services (EMS); Manheim Township EMS; Ephrata Hospital Advanced Life Support; and Chester County's Oxford, Parkesburg and Pomeroy ambulances.

Air Medical Services honored were: Sky Flight Care (Brandywine Hospital, Chester County); Lifenet 6-1 (Christiana, Del.); Pennstar 2 (West Chester); Pennstar 4 (Reading); and Medevac 6 (West Chester).

Fire companies recognized were: Bart Township, Christiana, Gap, Gordonville, Highville, Intercourse, Kinzer, Lafayette, Lancaster Township, Paradise-Leaman Place, Quarryville, Refton, Ronks, Strasburg, Upper Leacock, West Earl, Willow Street, Witmer, all of Lancaster County; and Chester County's Atglen, Avondale, Honey Brook and West Grove fire companies.

In Lancaster County, the following agencies responded to the event: County Wide Communications, Emergency Management, Public Safety Training Center, Critical Incident Stress Management Team, and the MH/MR Disaster Emergency Crises Outreach Team.

Other agencies contributing on the day of the shooting were: the South Central Pennsylvania Task Force (Incident Management Team); state Emergency Management Agency; Salvation Army (Canteen); Chester County Department of Emergency Services; Lancaster County Association of Constables (Security); and the Lancaster County Coroner's Office.

The following fire companies provided standby coverage as the Bart Township fire department went out of service for a week following the shooting: Eden, Rohrerstown, New Holland, Neffsville, Millersville, Oxford, Lititz, Adamstown, and Elizabethtown. The following fire companies were on alert: Downingtown (Chester County), Manheim and Mount Joy.

County fire companies that assisted during the funerals of the shooting victims were: East Petersburg, Neffsville, Bowmansville, Bird In Hand, Pequea, Bainbridge, and Rheems Fire.

Fire-police agencies in other counties also assisted during the funerals. They included: Midway, Third District, Doylestown No. 1, Sellersville, and Lingohocken, all of Bucks County; Berwyn, Cochranville, Martins Corner, Po-Mar-Lin, Lionville, East Brandywine, Goshen, and Kennett, all of Chester County; Wissahickon, Barren Hill, Washington, Plymouth, King Of Prussia, Pennsburg, Telford, Skippack, and Weldon, all of Montgomery County; Lincoln, Rescue, and New Bridgeville, all of York County. Other fire-police units who assisted: West Hanover (Dauphin County); Garrettford-Drexel Hill and Carrington-Stonehurst (both of Delaware County); and Dennison Township (Luzerne County).

County thanks dozens of emergency workers and departments for response to Amish schoolhouse shootings.

December 26, 2006 - Chief Woerth traveled to the North Pointe Branch of the Bank of Lancaster County. The bank presented a $4,000.00 check to the fire company. $2,500.00 is for the companies annual banquet in May and the other $1,500.00 is for our discretion. Thanks.