"I like the version from the New Living Translation: Give generously, for your gifts will return to you later," said Major John Blevins, corps officer. Officially, this corps appointment for Majors John and Diana Blevins started in June 2001 in Pulaski, Va., but in late 2006 a much-needed relocation to Christiansburg was realized when a suitable church building was found on Highway 460 - a major thoroughfare dissecting the county and running alongside nearby Virginia Tech. The move was necessary to be centrally located in the five counties in their command. "This building is nothing short of a Godsend," Major Diana Blevins said. "One Saturday morning I was doing garage sales - my hobby! - and the pastor of this church was putting a For Sale sign out in front." Blevins said she turned around, spoke with the pastor and returned home to tell her husband that she'd found their new corps building. "Everything fell into place in securing this building for our corps," Blevins said. "And it seems like after that fresh beginning, our corps was reborn. New people began coming to the corps, and our services to the community flourished." Then tragedy struck. A lone gunman massacred 30 students and two professors at Virginia Tech, bringing the New River Valley communities to the world's spotlight. Within hours of the first shots, the two majors and their corps staff member, Craig Woods, parked a Salvation Army canteen within 100 yards of Norris Hall and served hot meals and coffee to police, medics and media personnel. After the campus was secured, the canteen was moved to the University Inn to minister to the families of the victims. By that time, Salvation Army pastoral counselors were dispatched from DHQ. "There were about 75 Salvationists working at Virginia Tech in the awful days that followed," Major Diana Blevins said. "Between our pastoral counselors and serving hot meals on the canteen, it appeared to the community that all these Salvationists were from the New River Valley Corps - and I guess in a way for those few weeks, we were!" What's more important, she added, was that the public saw a little of what The Salvation Army can do in such a heartbreaking situation.  "Everyone wanted to help us help these grieving families," Major John Blevins said. "And now that a full year has passed, the community is still sold on the Army's mission here and it seems the more we give away to those in need, the more comes in!"
Continued »» Major John Blevins is shown at Norris Hall on the campus of Virginia Tech, where Salvation Army personnel served police, medical workers and others in the wake of the tragedy that took place there a year ago. |