In the month since the Virginia Tech shootings left 33 people dead on campus, millions of dollars have flowed into the many memorial funds established to honor the victims.

Aimed at meeting needs both immediate and specific, long term and communal, the funds have seen a steady stream of support from individuals, groups and businesses throughout the country. And while all continue to receive gifts, many fund organizers have begun to tackle the task of distribution.

Alan Ronk, executive director of Foundation for Roanoke Valley, said the foundation had received about $37,000 in gifts and commitments to its School Violence Assistance Fund and as of Tuesday had spent almost $4,000.

The bulk of that, Ronk noted, went to victim Henry Lee's family to pay for expenses related to Lee's burial, family transportation and other needs.

The foundation continues to try to reach out to the families of other victims, and Ronk said once those families' short-term needs have been met, any leftover dollars will be used for community programs related to the issue of school violence.

The United Way of Montgomery, Radford & Floyd also has started the job of collecting money and dispensing it.

Executive director Kymn Davidson-Hamley said the United Way has established a committee of volunteers to oversee its United in Caring Fund for Victims of the Virginia Tech Tragedy.

The committee is charged with deciding how the $219,307 in gifts and commitments made as of Wednesday will be dispensed.

Already, members have approved an initial round of support, with $1,000 for each family for use at their discretion.

"To this point, we've made commitments to 20 families of the deceased and 14 families of the injured," Davidson-Hamley said.

The committee is working to develop a plan and timeline for future spending and hopes to eventually set aside funds for "community healing" through mental health support and children's programs.

Terri Mitchell, assistant vice president and controller with the Virginia Tech Foundation, said that as of Tuesday, the foundation was managing more than $3 million in contributions made to the Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund and the 32 scholarships created in victims' names.

Mitchell said she doesn't know how much of the Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund has been spent thus far, but "we have addressed funeral-related expenses, travel-related expenses, media-related expenses," as well as the costs associated with some of the memorial services organized on campus.

"The priority right now is to use the money collected to assist the families and, after that, to address the scholarships," said Tom Tillar, Tech's vice president for alumni relations.

Calling them "living memorials," Tillar said he hopes to have all scholarships permanently endowed. And, while donations are being made directly to the funds, Tillar said some money from the Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund may eventually be transferred to individual scholarship funds to bring them all to the $100,000 level required to endow a scholarship.

It will likely be a year before the scholarships are awarded.

Tech isn't the only institution to individually honor victims.

For example, Jane Hobeika, a teacher and National Honor Society adviser at Blacksburg High School, said that soon after she learned Austin Cloyd was among those killed, she and a fellow adviser began discussing an appropriate memorial.

"Austin was one of the stars of the graduating class of 2006 of Blacksburg High School," Hobeika said. "Austin's death hit the students and faculty very, very hard."

To honor her, they established an annual scholarship in her name, and, in the weeks since Cloyd's death, Hobeika said she has received "several thousand dollars" for the fund.

"The hope," she noted, "is that we may operate a $1,000 to $1,500 scholarship annually for the next 10 years," Hobeika said. "We're almost halfway there."

The Cloyd family is working to develop criteria for scholarship recipients. The first scholarship will likely be awarded to a 2008 Blacksburg High graduate.

William Fleming High School has established a similar scholarship in memory of Lee, also known as Henh Ly.

Efforts to memorialize victims have also targeted the long-term welfare of those left behind.

Lois Diersing said she started a fund in the name of her brother-in-law, Kevin Granata, after people asked her what they could do to help.

Her answer is the Kevin P. Granata Memorial Trust, a trust that will go toward the care and education of Granata's three children.

"These are young, middle school-age kids, [and] there's an income that's no longer going to be there," Diersing said.

"Somehow," she added, "you have to come up with some system, some plan to try to take care of the kids in the best way that you can without having them live in a totally different lifestyle."

Diersing said she didn't know how much had been donated to the trust thus far and also wasn't aware of many of the other funds out there.

She isn't alone.

Given the number of funds established to aid victims, some families are finding it difficult to keep track of all the resources available to them.

Nancy Calkin, a volunteer with Roanoke's Refugee and Immigration Services, has known the Lee family for years and is trying to help them coordinate support.

"Some of the funds, I don't even think they know about it," Calkin said of the family.

But that hasn't stopped their gratitude.

While wrapped up in grief, "the family has definitely been impressed by the outpouring of support and help," she said. "It has meant a lot to them."