When you’ve got troubles, it helps to be part of a village. Students displaced by a March 14 fire in Collegetown are still putting their lives back together, but they are receiving support from all over the university community – from the university itself, from their friends, and even from bystanders who saw a need and moved to fill it.

Starting at about 1 a.m. March 14, fire engulfed 202 Eddy St., displacing 12 Cornell seniors who rented the house as a group. Only two were present in the building at the time, and they got out safely, according to Ithaca firefighters. But probably anything inside that wasn’t destroyed by fire suffered water damage. The students lost clothing, books, notes, in some cases computers, and all their kitchen equipment.

Six men living in the house were members of Delta Upsilon fraternity. The six women were members of Kappa Alpha Theta sorority. Although the university offered space in residence halls, two of the men went to the fraternity house, and the rest of the group found places to stay with other fraternity and sorority members who live in Collegetown. They had resources of their own because “They are seniors; they are tied into so many different communities,” said Gretchen Ryan, associate director in the Office of Financial Aid and Student Employment, who was serving as the university’s crisis manager that night.

A team of volunteer staff members who have been specially trained for the job rotate on a weekly basis as crisis managers, on call 24/7 through Cornell Police to help with students’ emergencies. Ryan was not alone. “There was a small army of staff and students working to help these students throughout that first weekend and beyond,” she said.

The Office of the Dean of Students quickly brought the displaced students together for a meeting – over pizza – to find out their needs. The Athletics Office brought in “a mountain of clothing” – mostly sweatpants and jackets. “The ones who didn’t lose clothing still needed to launder everything,” Ryan explained. The Cornell Store has also offered to provide each student with one free shirt and pants set.

Some students later met with representatives of the Red Cross, which could provide immediate emergency funding to get through the weekend and care kits with toothbrushes and other toiletries.

Delta Upsilon and Kappa Alpha Theta launched clothing drives, and formed a joint committee to manage physical and monetary donations. “The amount of clothing that was donated was amazing,” said Elissa Cook, chapter president at Kappa Alpha Theta, where the living room became the collection point. Donations came in, she said, from many other houses in the Interfraternity Council, the Panhellenic Council and the Multicultural Greek Letter Council. “I am unbelievably proud of every member of Theta, and I know we can continue to accomplish so much together to support our sisters,” Cook said. “It has been extremely important to ensure that the 202 Thetas have the best senior spring semester yet.” At Delta Upsilon, “We are all looking out for the 202 guys, helping them where we can with supplying things like extra i-clickers and backpacks, and lending books and notes,” said Jack Hamburger, the house philanthropy chair.

At both houses, friends are busy replacing personal items including photos, special event T-shirts and mementos of fraternity and sorority life.

A student who is an “out of house” member of Ujamaa Residential College and has connections with the Wari co-op happened to be on the street at the time of the fire. Watching the building in flames, she decided to offer help, asking the two houses to set up locations for donations. Both are conveniently located in the heart of North Campus. A list of the women’s sizes was circulated on several email lists, and each house has reportedly brought in a “car-trunkload” of clothing.

The Carol Tatkon Center in Balch Hall, although officially there to assist first-year students, has offered to lend laptops to the seniors.

The displaced students have now moved into apartments provided by an anonymous Ithaca landlord, rent-free until the end of the semester. A drive is under way to supply them with kitchen equipment and other furnishings, and they will receive grants to help them replace other belongings from the Students Helping Students fund established by the Student Assembly, which provides funds for emergencies such as fire loss.

The fraternity and sorority have launched a “Support 202 Eddy” fund for all the other needs that are not so easy to define or donate into a box. To contribute go to http://donate.billhighway.com/Support202Eddy.