Friday morning, two days after an explosion ripped apart the Alfred P. Murrah Federal building in Oklahoma City, Okla., Life Marshall '96 decided she wanted to help the victims of the bombing.
By Monday, Marshall said she and other volunteers had raised more than $4,000 for the American Red Cross.
"I decided it was worth giving it a shot --and I never expected we'd raise that much money," said Marshall, who is from Los Angeles.
She said she was motivated to organize the fundraising effort because she felt "extremely powerless and frustrated" as she watched the aftermath of the bombing on television.
Just three days before Marshall started her fundraising campaign, she told a friend, "I don't feel like I've done anything" at Dartmouth. Now, she said, "I feel like I've done a little something."
Marshall said her relief efforts made her feel like she had "some control over a situation I didn't think I had any control over." She said she felt doing something was "empowering, not only for myself, but for all the volunteers and people who donated."
Marshall said she thinks the perception that college students are apathetic -- although prevalent -- is incorrect.
While making phone calls on Friday, she said she "was hesitant to tell them I was a Dartmouth student because I wanted them to take me seriously."
"I thought that if they knew I was a college student they wouldn't," she said.
The death toll in the bombing is estimated to be more than 100 people according to a repot by the Associated Press. Three men are being held in connection with the incident, Timothy McVeigh and Terry and James Nichols.
McVeigh, who served in the Persian Gulf War, is the only one charged directly for the car-bombing incident.
Marshall said she was deeply affected by television coverage of the bombing on CBS Friday morning.
She said she was especially moved by footage of children who were wounded or killed in the bombing because she used to work in a preschool.
When the news broadcast ended, Marshall said she immediately called the White House to get information on how to help the relief effort. After being referred to the American Red Cross, she called the local Red Cross office in Rutland, Vt. and decided to work with it to raise money for the victims of the attack.
Marshall solicited donations from local businesses and organized donation booths on Saturday and Sunday at the Co-op Food Store in Hanover and at K-Mart and the Powerhouse Mall in West Lebanon. She called radio stations and got students and volunteers from the community to help staff the booths.
Fabricland in West Lebanon donated 100 yards of blue ribbon to make bows and Green Mountain Florist in Middlesex, Vt., donated hundreds of flowers. Marshall said blue is Oklahoma's state color and symbolizes hope and remembrance of the tragedy.
The bows and flowers were given out to those who made donations.
With two friends, Marshall spent Friday evening tying bows. She said she went to bed at 4 a.m. Saturday and got up two hours later to start preparing the donation booths.
The first booth opened at 7:45 a.m. on Saturday. Through electronic mail and the help of two local radio stations, Marshall said she was able to get the message out to the College and Upper Valley community.
Rick Murphy of XL92 made a 90-second promotional advertisement for the weekend and Jim Patry, a disc jockey at XL92, spent four unpaid hours broadcasting live from the Powerhouse Mall, Marshall said.
Winnie Chevalier and Jack Walker from the Rutland American Red Cross also helped with the booths.
Donations at the booths ranged from a nickel to $200, Marshall said. She said two little children gave her about six or seven dollars worth of change in plastic bags.
"Here. You can keep this in your box, but don't take it out of the plastic bags because we don't want any bad men to get it," Marshall said the children told her.
Marshall said many people could not afford to give large amounts of money, but they gave what they could.
One person at the Powerhouse Mall told Marshall he disagreed with her fundraising effort.
Marshall said he told her, "I don't understand why you are doing this. This was a federal building and anyone who was injured in any way, shape or form will be compensated by the government for the rest of their lives."
The person said he felt the money would be better spent helping those in the Upper Valley.
But Marshall said, "I busted my butt and I don't see him busting his butt over something he is so opinionated about."
She said if there is something you believe in, you should do something about it "instead of just talking about it."
Marshall will be on WNTK Talk Radio from 9 to 10 a.m. today, when she will give the money she helped raise to the Red Cross.
