Continuing to hold our Lewiston-Auburn family in my heart, as do alumni I heard from from across the globe. Healing is long-term work and we are here to continue to hold and support you.

Holding you all in my heart as you grieve the unimaginable. There are no sufficient words – just know that a lot of love is being sent your way since October 25th and beyond. Love you Lewiston.

Dear Bates Students and the town of Lewiston,
You are in my thoughts and prayers!!! Stay Lewiston Strong and Bates Strong!!!

MOST UNHAPPY TO RECEIVE SUCH HORRIBLE PIECE OF BAD NEWS REGARDING THE LAST SHOOOTING IN LEWISTON. FROM VIÑA DEL MAR, CHILE I GIVE MY UNCONDITIONAL MORAL AND SPIRITUAL SUPPORT TO THE FAMILIES OF THE VICTIMS. MAY THE PEACE AND THE SOOTHING LOVE OF CHRIST JESUS HEAL THEM FOR EVER, AMEN.class of 1973 (IXC).

Knowing thatBates was a wonderful place to spend four years back in the ‘50’s, it was incomprehensible that such an awful tragedy occurred in Lewiston. My heart goes out to all affected by it and grateful that no one on campus was hurt. May the community of Lewiston recover from this and healing wishes to all affected.

Makorokoto

Thank you to the staff and community at Bates for keeping our kids safe and communicating with us the best you could- including after the tragedy through messages and the multi-faith zoom hour. It means more than you can ever know! Our hearts are with Lewiston and also with the incredible Bates community.

I was heartened to hear how the students continued to check in on each other throughout lockdown. Professors and administrators checking in continually. Sadly, tragiclyI think we all know this terrible shooting can happen anywhere but the community — now that is special.

Sending love to the Lewiston community and special thanks to the Bates staff who took care of our children through a scary time.

During difficult times, we find that there is strength and love in coming together as a community and putting our differences aside! Lewiston and Bates College will come out stronger than ever! Love to all!

Sending love and prayers for healing from Richmond, Virginia.

As current parents, we are so grateful to the Bates staff who were organized, communicative and caring. What a stressful time for us, and for you and your families. We were amazed that coaches and other staff came to campus to feed the students during that dangerous time. Our hearts go out to the Lewiston community and our sincere condolences to the victims’ families.

Sending love and support to the entire LA/Bates community. It is inspiring to watch how you are coming together to support each other and heal.

Believe in the goodness of humanity, students of Bates and people of Lewiston. Strength comes from being united.

We wish peace and healing to the Bates students and staff, and the extended Lewiston-Auburn community. We are proud of how the school came together to support each other and the community – we are sending our love and support from California. ❤️

Thank you for being the helpers by running toward the tragedy and doing everything that you could to support the community during the stay in place order and beyond. Even though I no longer live in Lewiston, it is still a part of me and my former home. I greatly appreciate your efforts and hope that you know that I (and many others) are here to support you.

My friends and I from Tujenge African Foundation in Burundi are wishing you strength and courage as you grieve.

Your friends in New Jersey stand with you!

I’m heartbroken about those killed and injured and for the entire Lewiston community. (Bates ’82).

We are heartbroken that such a senseless tragedy found its way to the Lewiston-Auburn community. We send prayers for peace and healing to the families directly effected, and to the entire community, including Bates, who had their sense of safety shattered and who are now experiencing such grief. Thank you to all the first-responders, including students. Thanks to all the work done to keep our students safe and well-cared for, and for modeling how to come together, in service and support, in times of tragedy. May you all find peace and support in your healing.

Deepest Bobcat gratitude for the incredible efforts under the most dire and trying of days. You added comfort when most needed and a feeling of safety when fear presided. So proud of this remarkable community and proud to have you all as Bobcats!

Inspired at how the L/A community stood up together to support itself. Proud of the global Bates community of parents and alums for leaning in. Venerated by Bates showing us how to help others. ❤️

As parents who live overseas (Hong Kong), our hearts were with the entire Lewiston community, feeling incredibly helpless watching events unfold on that horrific day. We want to express our immense gratitude, appreciation and unwavering support for our Bates Community. Thank you for all you did to support our children, to make them feel safe and heard, and to create a real sense of community when everyone needed it the most. We send wishes of love and support, hugs from half way around the world, to the entire Lewiston community, the first responders, the police and security personnel, and our own Bates faculty and staff! Your devotion, dedication and service does not go unnoticed!! Always in our hearts!

I love Lewiston with my head and heart — the people, the landmarks, the Bates campus, and — of course — its soccer fields, both official and I sanctioned. I will continue to tell Lewiston’s stories as best I can — grateful to Bates for bringing me there.

The Bates and Lewiston community is part of our extended home. We share your sadness and hope that you find support from those of us who are no longer present on campus to be of some help as you adjust, heal and get back on your feet.

Wishing you strength and perseverance in the days, weeks, months and years to come. I hope you can be a force for change so that this doesn’t happen again.

Sending healing thoughts from Siesta Key, FL

Hoping for healing and peace for the community.

So awed by the grace and strength with which Bates handled such a tragic event. Keep lifting each other up and being a light to the entire community!!

LA/Bates, my heart is with you – you are resilient and loved.

I’ve always been a proud Bates student and alumnae. But I’ve never been prouder of my Alma mater than in the past couple weeks. Much love to the whole community.

I am so grateful for all the communication from Bates during an incredibly stressful week! And extra about our to all the parents who remains calm, considerate, and constructive on the Facebook page. I love this community ❤️

I am the parent of a prospective Bates student and am so sorry for the tragedy you have suffered. The way the community has come together to support each other during a terrible time is incredible to witness.

Bates College and Lewiston, Maine were my home for four years. And the depth of my love for this beautiful community cannot be overstated. It is enormously unfair that that this space has been marred and hurt by such a terrible violence. The destruction and despair is immense. Simultaneously, though, I see the beauty in a community embracing one another, planning a joyful Halloween for the children of Lewiston, and sharing words of love amidst all the pain. It is this very community that makes Lewiston so special. It is this desire for love, despite the great tragedy that you have suffered, that will remind you who you are and why you stand together.

Sending so much love to you all.

Just want to say how proud I am of the way the Bates community rallied to help the community through these hard, hard days. The college’s students, staff and leadership have all been terrific.

Bates staff and Lewiston Community, you were there for our kids when we couldn’t be. Thank you for knowing what to do and doing it all through fear and sadness. My daughter felt taken care of by your efforts and we couldn’t be more grateful.

Our deepest gratitude to the Bates administration, faculty and especially staff for taking exceptional care of the students during this very difficult time. Our thoughts are with the Lewiston Community.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the Lewiston community during this challenging time

Thank you so much for your kindness and support for our children. Your generosity of spirit during this time of terrible emotional stress is inspiring. We appreciate the Bates and Lewiston communities and we are praying for peace and healing.

Lean on one another, we are all supporting you Lewiston!

We just all wanted to share our sincere gratitude for all that each and everyone has done. Bates is such a beautiful community and we love how community is built into every aspect of life there. It truly shows. Thank you. All our love. The Horiuchi’s

Thank you to the Bates community for the tremendous effort in navigating what was an extremely scary and stressful situation by keeping the kids safe, well, and fed, for keeping the parents informed and now for coming together with the Lewiston community to begin the healing process. We are eternally grateful.

We are so grateful to the Bates community. Thank you for sacrificing time with your own families to care for our students during this challenging time. Sending peace and good wishes to all.

Thank you so much Bates community for being in touch with us parents. For taking care of all studentes and being there for them. It´s really hard when you are so far away you feel terrible that you can do much. It helped to see my girl was taken care of. For my family you are Heroes.

To all of you who worked around the clock for our kids: YOU ARE THE BEST AND TRUEST OF HEROES. Just like the brave first responders on 9/11, you gave everything of yourselves for OTHERS. We can cannot thank you enough. The Hawkins Family (Amelia 2024)

Thank you to everyone on staff and in the Bates and Lewiston Community for wrapping our students in your arms during this difficult time. I know it took so much effort and coordination while living with such incredible stress and sadness of your own. The stories I’ve heard of the students taking care of each other and volunteering in the days following the crisis have also been incredible. Thank you one and all, Bates and Lewiston have such an amazing community. Be well, and be strong.

We heard from our son about your extraordinary kindness in helping to keep the students safe and card for on campus. He was beyond grateful and so are we. Thank you will all our hearts.

We are keeping all of you in our prayers and appreciate your keeping our daughter safe.

Thank you to the entire staff at Bates for your support and hard work these past weeks. During a traumatic and emotional time for the entire state, your care for our children, your college community, and each other was so evident. Please know that we as parents appreciate so much all you did to ensure the students were provided for practically and personally during a time when you and your own families were going through a difficult experience. The coordination needed to provide food, ensure safety, and provide medical and mental health services while communicating plans to an anxious community was no small endeavor. We thank you for all you have done and continue to do to create a positive environment at Bates, and we send love and healing your way.

We are deeply grateful for all of you who, while experiencing trauma yourselves, were willing and able to prioritize the needs of the students and community members in your care and provide meals, services, protection, etc during the shelter-in-place period and since then. Thank you and we sincerely hope you are able to receive that same sort of care yourselves from others. Know that you are appreciated and know that we are sending our healing thoughts to you and the broader Lewiston community.

The trick or treat walk that brought together college and community kids allowed both groups to experience the essential goodness in people. That was a salve for my daughter’s hurting heart.

We’ll never know all of the planning, logistics and judgement calls carried out by faculty and staff during this horrific time, but we do know the love and care that everyone brings to campus, and this kept us centered. Thank you for protecting our children and for doing the follow up care for days and weeks to come. Sending love from Colorado.

Words cannot fully express our gratitude for all you have done. Being across the country while our daughter and the whole community were experiencing such an event was challenging, but the care and concern shown by everyone at Bates made us feel more secure. I know the entire Lewiston-Auburn area has much healing to do – our thoughts and hearts are with you.

Thank you. You are what makes our community what it is and we are so thankful for you. We can’t imagine exactly what you’re going through but we are here to listen. Please reach out if you ever want to connect. You’re courageous, brave, powerful, and loved. We appreciate you to no end.

There is no one person to thank (except maybe as a parent Geoffrey Swift who must not have slept for three days and kept us parents so well informed) but I am particularly appreciative of all the incredible dining hall, safety and other employees of Bates who hunkered down and looked after our kids (in some cases maybe before their own). It was an unbelievable act of grace and goodness at a time of extreme duress and it stands as a beacon for what and WHO Bates is. Quite the way for Bates’ new president to experience what Bates is made of. President Garry Jenkins was indeed inaugurated into the Bates fabric and family on his inaugural day, just not as he or the college had planned. Thank you also to our amazing kids who followed the requests to stay put and who looked after one another and continue to.

Thank you to all the people who kept my daughter safe. Thank you to the staff and faculty who watched over her and her fellow students in the library all night, and who gave them information and reassurance until they were able to return to their dorms. Thank you to the commons staff for keeping her fed. Thank you to the administration and campus police watching over all the students and faculty. Thank to all the people who have worked so hard in the days since to give these her and all the students the solace they need. May you also find solace, peace, and healing.

We so appreciate all of work that went into taking care of the students on campus. Our daughter was well fed, had constant updates, and felt safe throughout thanks to your effort. I recognize that it must have been incredibly stressful on a personal level for staff who came to work each day during the crisis.. Sending my gratitude to you all and my hopes for peace and healing for those most impacted by the tragedy.

Thank you for caring for our children when yours were in danger. Godspeed, Lewiston. We may only be part of your community for four years but you will be part of our lives forever.

Sending daily long distance support from California to Lewiston to rebuild, find hope and strength for the Bates community and its surrounds.

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