Georgetown University community members are raising money for a student whose mother was among those killed at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn.
Katy Sherlach, a Ph.D candidate in chemistry at Georgetown, lost her mother, Mary, in Friday's shooting, Georgetown Patch reports.
Mary Sherlach was the school psychologist at Sandy Hook. She had worked at the school for 20 years and was one year away from retirement, according to Newtown Patch. She was one of the first people killed Friday, when she and the school's principal ran into the hallway and toward the shooter, just after the attack began, according to CNN.
Katy Sherlach is the younger of two surviving daughters and is studying chemistry at Georgetown. The Georgetown University Law Center set up a fundraising page to help support the Sherlach family's expenses:
Gun violence in one place can hurt people anywhere and everywhere. Georgetown University Law Center community members can help a Georgetown victim right here. The student will have the expenses that arise from an unexpected death in the family. We can provide immediate assistance. Please make a donation in any amount to reach the goal of $5,000 by December 25, 2012.
Mary Sherlach earned her undergraduate degree in psychology at SUNY Cortland and a master's degree at Southern Connecticut State University.
UPDATE, Dec. 18, 9:00 a.m.: A tipster from Georgetown notifies HuffPost that in just one day they met their goal of raising $5,000.
Contributors included many current Georgetown Law students, many Georgetown Law staff from all levels and departments, Georgetown Law faculty members, Georgetown Law alumni (ranging from circuit court judges to elected state officials to attorneys in private and public practice), and a few friends of members of the community. A large number of donations came from students, who learned about the initiative through an all-student email by the Student Bar Association President, Shaun Zhang. Donations exceeded the fundraiser's goal of $5000 in less than one day.