(WXYZ) — Oxford High School Families now have the chance to receive financial compensation for the hurt they endured following the November 30 school shooting.
The National Compassion Fund, an organization that manages donations for the victims of mass crimes, is managing $2 million worth of donations for Oxford High School.
They sent out a plan in February limiting payments to traumatized students who were close by to where the shooting occurred.
That plan could have potentially excluded people who helped bloodied shooting victims or even saw the shooter from a classroom farther away.
"This money is a gift. It is not anything that anyone has a legal claim to," Jeff Dion with the National Compassion Fund said.
He says his job is to take good care of that gift and distribute it fairly. He's even compiled a steering committee of 11 local residents to help him do that.
In February, they put out a plan outlining the following qualifications for payment.
- Legal heirs of those who were killed as a direct result of the shooting
- Those who were physically injured by gunshot wounds in the shooting
- Those who meet the eligibility requirements designated for psychological trauma
But that third category only applied to students and staff who were in or near a single hallway, restroom, and one classroom where the shootings happened.
Parents were candid at a town hall earlier this month. They told Dion and the steering committee some students fled the building and later helped collapsed students who were shot.
Others were outside of the area of eligibility but still saw the shooter.
In response to that feedback, the rules were changed. They now include those who were present on campus and either provided direct assistance to a gunshot victim or took extraordinary action to prevent loss of life.
The designated area was expanded to include three dozen classrooms.
The deadline to file an application for the fund is May 6.
On June 13, the committee is expected to approve fund distributions. Money will begin going out on June 17.
