Kentuckians offer blood donations and prayer to Las Vegas

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WTVQ)- Even in the Bluegrass, it is hard not to feel somber, to empathize with the hundreds of families involved, to wonder what we should be doing in light of the mass shooting in Las Vegas. People there are asking for blood donations, and prayer. Kentuckians are providing both.

Sometimes, it can be easy to feel helpless, especially when you wake up to news that at least 59 are dead and 527 hurt.

Even miles away, Morehead State freshman Morgan Hager felt like a lot of us probably do.

“Losing your loved one to that…I couldn’t… imagine,” Hager said.

She says she drove all the way from Morehead to donate blood.

“This is the most I can do. I can’t send anything else, I can’t pass something into law. I can’t go there myself and help or volunteer so this way, I can do something,” Hager said.

Denise Fields says Hager is not alone.  It has been a busier than average Monday at the Kentucky Blood Center.

“They heard it on the news. They wanted to help. It’s just such an easy way to help,” Fields said.

In addition to blood, people in Las Vegas are asking for prayers. An interfaith encounter Lexington Monday night was supposed to focus on caring for the earth, but those gathering could not ignore the pain in Nevada.

“Anytime life is taken, it’s up to us to restore dignity to the situation,” JR Zerkowski, founder of Lexington United Interfaith Encounters, said.

Attendee Nadia Rasheed says she had already planned on attending, but needed the comfort from the crowd even more after hearing about the attack.

“Unbearable. Unbearable. Unimaginable. They’re at a concert and they’re having fun. It’s tragic,” Rasheed said.

She says she takes comfort in knowing the crowd around her is trying to fight hatred.

“We have to counteract by showing more love and more kindness and more brotherhood,” Rasheed said.

Whether through prayer or donation, Kentuckians are not helpless. They are helping.