 "Photo: Courtesy of the Meifert Family")
 "Photo: Courtesy of the Meifert Family")
Nichole Meifert, once a healthy student training with the women's varstity crew team, now lies unconscious and in critical condition. She was hit by a car this past October while riding her bike at the intersection of Lane Avenue and Tuttle Park Place.
Friends, family, members of the women's crew team, and the School of Enviornment and Natural Resources hosted a benefit dinner in Kottman Hall lobby Wednesday evening to raise funds for Meifert's family to help with medical expenses. A presentation on driver, predestrian and bicycle safety was als made by the OSU police.
"The idea of the dinner tonight was to help out her family as much as possible and support her family, she needs a lot of support right now, we need to keep her in everyone's prayers and thoughts," Fries said.
Prior to the accident, Meifert was a novice on the women's varsity crew team at OSU. Her coach, Andy Teitelbaum, said even though she was not selected for the varsity team last Spring, she still stayed and trained on land.
Sarah Obee, a senior in accounting and Chinese, and varsity crew member, said the team receives updates on Meifert's condition via e-mail, and that her presence is still felt among the crew.
"You can tell people are pushing for her," she said.
A major component of the benefit dinner was devoted to the safety program promotion. The safety guidelines that were presented by OSU police officer, Jim Compston, allowed drivers, pedestrians, and cyclists to minimize the risk of accidents.
"It's a great event," Compston said. He provided recent statistics showing multiple injury accidents involiving bicycles on campus, emphasizing the importance of being aware of your surroundings, wearing the appropriate safety equipment like helmets, and driving cautiously. Compston went on to explain how the police force is increasing the efforts to keep pedestrians safe by making more traffic stops and arrests for drunk driving.
Kimberly Pachell, program coordinator for the OSU student advocacy center, attended the dinner and wanted students to know what her office can offer. According to Pachell, her program helps students and their families in any way possible.
She said students or family members can call them in any emergency, and they will often even arrive on the scene of accidents.
"This is a great event, the school of agriculture really takes care of its students."
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