As disaster workers searched for survivors amid the rubble of Tuesday's attacks, members of the Penn State community sought their own ways to pick up the pieces.

Volunteers swamped area blood drives. American flags appeared everywhere. People wore yellow ribbons, patriotic colors and "I Love New York" T-shirts.

Impromptu memorials grew up as if naturally. E-mail inboxes were flooded with forwarded messages striving to find some meaning in the tragedy.

"We mourn with those who have suffered great and disastrous loss. All our hearts have been seared by the sudden and senseless taking of innocent lives," President Bush said in a proclamation yesterday.

Today is a national day of prayer and remembrance for the victims of the terrorist attacks.

Penn State will mark the occasion with a 20-minute noontime memorial service at Old Main, as Bush suggested for communities across the nation.

All students, faculty and staff are excused from classes during that time.

The service will begin with five minutes of silence, followed by a brief musical program, officials said.

The bells of Old Main will then toll for the rest of the hour in memory .

"This is an emotional time for everyone in the Penn State community and the nation as we struggle to come to grips with our grief, fear, and uncertainty," Penn State President Graham Spanier said in a statement last night.

Spanier also invited students and employees of the university to return at 7 tonight for a candlelight vigil.

Yesterday at Old Main, where the U.S. and state flags flew at half-staff, passers-by noticed two small memorials.

In the grass, there were yellow flowers arranged in a peace sign. And below the main steps, two students laid out a patchwork of homemade watercolor flags from around the world painted on photocopied sketches of the World Trade Center.

"I like the fact that it is anonymous: They left it for the community" said Holly Swanson, who writes for the Penn State Web site.

While it was not outwardly religious, the memorial art piece sparked faith responses in some passers-by. One woman made the sign of the cross as she walked away. Another woman was praying and crying.

"Things like this make me remember that my God has ultimate control and things will work out for the common good to glorify Him," said Humphrey Cobbold (junior-mechanical engineering). "I think it (the artwork) is very heartfelt, very sincere."

In this modern age, many students went to the Internet for the latest news and found other ways to commemorate the loss of life.

E-commerce turned to e-charity, as popular Web sites such as Yahoo! offered ways for people to donate money to the American Red Cross, the United Way of America, and other disaster relief funds.

Thousands of visitors to Amazon.com had donated more than $3.3 million to the Red Cross fund by 6 p.m. yesterday.

Louis Geschwindner, professor of architectural engineering, posted a personal Web site to serve as a virtual community for architectural engineering alumni.

"The AE program historically has been a very close program," Geschwindner said. "People are going to want to know where other people are and what other people are doing. "

Geschwindner put up personal accounts and amateur photographs from the World Trade Center collapse. His site directs viewers to newspaper articles that focus on the technical side of the tragedy in New York.

"I'm a structural engineer. I know the World Trade Center. I know the engineers," he said. "It's something that's close to us."

After the university linked to his site from its main page, Geschwindner started getting feedback from people without ties to the AE program.

"These are the kind of things that one person can start," he said.

Collegian Staff Writer Kelly R. Lamanna contributed to this report.