Amish community leaders decided earlier this week to level West Nickel Mines School at 4876 White Oak Road, according to Mike Hart of Bart Township Fire Company.

“It will be a group effort between a number of (excavators) that have the equipment to do it,” he said.

The demolition will begin early this morning, Hart said, and is expected to be completed in “a matter of hours.”

Debris from the school will be taken to an undisclosed landfill.

A new school will be built, but its location and when it will be constructed have not been disclosed, Hart said.

The construction cost of a new school is being raised through numerous funds that were established soon after the Oct. 2 shootings.

The funds also will be used to cover the medical costs for the girls wounded in the attack.

Two of the larger funds have reported generous donations since the shootings.

Amish School Recovery Fund and Nickel Mines School Victims Fund already have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars from thousands of donors.

“The nation seeks a way to grieve,” said Kevin King, executive director of Mennonite Disaster Service, an organization raising money with Mennonite Central Committee for the Amish School Recovery Fund.

“We are serving as a collection plate,” King said. “(Donations) are coming in pretty strong. It’s just amazing.”

Money raised for the Amish families is given to Nickel Mines Accountability Committee, a nine-person group consisting of seven Amish leaders and two non-Amish members.

Several hospitals that treated the girls wounded in the shootings recently waived medical fees.

Still, there will be excessive costs for the victims’ families.

Herman Bontrager, spokesman for Nickel Mines Accountability Committee, said long-term medical fees will remain.

The funds also are needed for emotional and spiritual care and other educational costs, he said.

As of Wednesday, Mennonite Disaster Service collected $198,000 from more than 2,000 donors for the Amish School Recovery Fund, King said.

Larry Guengerich of Mennonite Central Committee said MCC raised just over $124,000 through Wednesday.

Both organizations have offices in Akron that accept donations by mail, e-mail and over the telephone.

“Thursday and Friday, our computers pinged every five seconds” because of frequent online donations, King said.

Branches of Fulton Bank also are accepting donations for the Amish School Recovery Fund.

The Anabaptist Foundation is the centralized collection source for the Nickel Mines School Victims Fund.

Local branches of several banks — including Bank of Lancaster County, Ephrata National Bank, Susquehanna Bank and Hometowne Heritage Bank — are accepting donations to the Nickel Mines School Victims Fund.

Rich Lauer of the Anabaptist Foundation said the fund raised about $260,000 through Wednesday afternoon. The James Hale Steinman and John F. Steinman Foundations made a $10,000 contribution Wednesday morning.

When a $500,000 pledge by Capital BlueCross is added in, the total raised so far is more than $1 million.

“It’s a good response,” Lauer said. “There is still plenty of need, but we are making a good start.”

Lauer said most of last week’s initial donations to the Nickel Mines School Victims Fund were from walk-ins at local banks. Donations made at participating banks are put into Anabaptist Foundation accounts.

“We set it up that way so donations to the fund could be tax-deductible,” Lauer said.

Donations to the Amish School Recovery Fund also are tax-deductible.

Several other funds also were established after the tragedy. Two are being offered at Coatesville Savings Bank.

Donations to the Nickel Mines Children’s Fund and Roberts Family Fund can be mailed or made in person at any Coatesville Savings Bank.

Bontrager said Wednesday he did not receive a report from Coatesville Savings Bank, but he expects the donations will be “substantial.”

During the past week, four hospitals — Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Lancaster General Hospital, Reading Hospital and Christiana Care Health System — waived medical fees for the victims treated at their facilities.

Four girls were taken to LGH on the day of the attack. One victim was dead upon arrival, and three others were treated and transported to other hospitals.

Medical fees for the patients treated at LGH were not released, but spokesman John Lines said the total cost was “enormous.”

Lines said numerous health groups that assisted in treatment at LGH also waived their fees.

Several emergency medical services, like Susquehanna EMS, have done the same, Lines said.

A spokesperson at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia said Wednesday the hospital will cover patients’ medical costs in the “foreseeable future” and added, “At some point, we will have to re-evaluate.”

King said donations have come from all over the country and beyond. Mennonite Disaster Service has even received contributions from Serbia and Bosnia.

“I sense this is not a story (people) are going to drop,” King said. “It has affected many people, profoundly.” blog comments powered by Disqus