‘Other Families May Have To Walk In Our Shoes Someday

Rima Samaha, a 2006 Westfield High graduate, was just 18 and a freshman when she was killed in the April 16, 2007 mass shooting at Virginia Tech. Soon after, her mother called her "our flower taken too soon, our star to wish for, and our angel to guide."

And in the years that followed, Rima continued to mentor her father, Joe Samaha, as he and other victims' family members founded the Virginia Tech Victims Family Outreach Foundation (VTV). Its purpose was to address the university's safety and security concerns in the tragedy that left 32 people dead; 17 years old, injured; and many more were injured. 

Samaha was the president of the non-profit organization. and over the years, VTV has helped pass new laws and become the nation's leading independent campus safety advocacy group. Later, as VTV's Vice President of Victim and Survivor Development and Advocacy, Samaha pioneered the idea of ​​the Virginia Mass Violence Care Fund (VMVCF) to benefit all victims of gang violence in Virginia. .

The shooting on May 31, 2019 in Virginia Beach further underscored his need. And in January 2022, at Samaha's request, one of his constituents, Senator Chap Petersen of Fairfax (D-34th ) , submitted a $10 million budget to create this Commonwealth Fund.

In the end, it didn't make it into Virginia's budget, but Samaha, Petersen and VTV kept pushing. And last month, his tireless efforts to make the relief fund a reality finally paid off when Gov. Glenn Youngkin included money for it in his new state budget.

"We [VTV] are grateful to Governor Youngkin Eti. General Jason Miyares and Senator Petersen for establishing the Mass Violence Care Fund," said Samaha. "We thank them for their listening, understanding and compassion. The idea to create this budget for the VMVCF Foundation was complex and twofold, and will help other families and survivors affected by gang violence in Virginia."

Samaha hopes the other 49 states will "follow the governor's path." He said those directly injured or traumatized by mob violence in Virginia would benefit from the fund and explained how it came about.

"As families and survivors of the Virginia Tech shooting began to respond and come together in our tragedy of 2007, we asked two questions," Samaha said. "We asked ourselves, 'How can we make our college campuses safer and how can we help other families who will one day have to walk in our shoes?'

“Nearly 16 years later, we are proud that our advocacy work at the VTV Family Outreach Foundation, along with our VTVCare program [predecessor to the new foundation] helped bring the Mass Violence Care Foundation of Virginia to life; the first of this nation.

What they learned from their experience after the Virginia Tech massacre, Samaha said, is that “in the first two years after a tragedy, people donate to help victims, and they give grants to municipalities to set up centers of resilience direct.

"But usually by the third year there is no more funding to support people in their lives. Their lasting needs include physical trauma and mental trauma, such as PTSD, which can occur years later. They need therapy, but insurance doesn't cover everything, that's where this new fund comes from.

In fact, as noted by VTV presidents Jody McQuade and Jennifer Herbstreit, "many of us are still seeing therapists and seeking treatment for ailments related to the events of April 16, 2007." While they are delighted that the relief fund has been created to be active and lasting, they also expressed gratitude to the state's political leaders for "understanding that grief, pain and trauma are not linear and are likely to last a lifetime." . and mob violence”.
The VMVCF, now funded by the Virginia budget, will film mob violence here three years after the event and pay uninsured victims. The expenses and income of the fund shall be made by the state treasurer.

The first-year allocation will be $10 million from the Commonwealth General Fund and will go to the Virginia Mass Violence Care Fund. There he would earn interest, possibly $400,000 a year, to pay for the ongoing needs of victims.

At the same time, Samaha never forgets the Virginia Tech victims who were the catalyst for this momentous achievement. "32 dead and 17 injured inspired this work, not just Rima," he said. "What has helped me is having a purpose to continue to honor and remember those who were killed and to continue to do this work on their behalf."

As for Petersen, he couldn't be more proud of what Samaha and his colleagues at VTV have accomplished. "Last year Joe approached me with the idea of ​​creating a revolving fund to benefit families whose members were killed or injured in a mass crash," explained Petersen. "The event mentioned at the time was the 2019 Virginia Beach shooting that left 12 dead and many more injured. Many of these families were unable to pay their bills when their insurance ran out."

And while a January 2022 budget amendment would have worked to create a relief fund, he knew he had a better shot if the governor or the House proposed it. And that's when Samaha's passion and determination kicked in.

"Joe has had a lot of meetings with the governor's team and members of the House trying to move forward," Petersen said. "And then on December 15th, the governor announced that he would create the VMVCF, as Joe requested, with an initial budget of $10 million, again, as we requested. many areas that will be discussed in the budget. But this article was a perfect hit in Fairfax County for the Good Luck Joe worker.

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