Seizing the Moment: Lessons Learned in the Wake of Unspeakable Tragedy

 New York City—American Red Cross, November, 2001

            In November of 2001, I went down to NYC as a volunteer for the American Red Cross. How to describe the NYC experience other than to say it was interesting and intense? That latter two are the polite and short answers, but there is more.

I am glad I went and I feel it was right, for whatever reason, for me to be there. The guys I worked with were great and taught me a lot as we laughed together, a really great team. It showed me how good a working relationship could be.

While I was in New York City, I spent most of my time assisting the Logistics Officer in Headquarters for DR 848, which is the disaster number for American Airlines Flight 587, the plane that crashed into the Queens neighborhood on November 12, 2001. I wrote reports, figured out their compute system, ordered and tracked supplies and cars, and made phone calls to city officials. At one point we left headquarters to provide assistance during the prayer service for the victim’s families. It felt good to be given the chance to reach out and help the people affected.  It gave me the opportunity to fill the classic Red Cross role of putting blankets around their shoulders and giving them food.

While we were in NYC we received full access badges to Ground “Hero,” which is what people in New York call the site of the World Trade Center. I went twice, the second time getting right to the edge of the pit. One guy called it looking into the jaws of hell. The enormity of the destruction is incomprehensible, much different from what you see on TV (which makes it all look like just another movie set). I visited a little church just across the street that somehow survived the towers collapse with not a touch of damage (the “miracle” church). The inside of the church was almost completely covered with drawings and messages from people. The extent and amount of the outpouring of people's expressions is as enormous and as difficult to assimilate as the extent of the evil witnessed in the damage outside.  The juxtaposition of the two is very thought provoking. I'm not sure I've quite processed it all yet. Nor do I think the fireman I talked with have processed it either. They seemed shell-shocked. The hardest job must have been the ambulance person, standing at attention next to her stretcher. Do you hope for a recovery, to be busy and involved, or do you not hope because that means another life lost will bring sorrow to their family? How difficult to just stand by and wait.

            Meanwhile, outside the church was a quiet little cemetery full of headstones and trees. The trees’ branches still hold trash from the collapse. The stones are so old (from 1700s) you cannot read many of the names. As you look across that restful patch of ground in the midst of the hustle of the city, you find yourself looking at a spot lit backdrop of massive twists of steel and cement being demolished by construction crews. Both people and machines look minuscule in comparisons to the enormous piles they are working on removing.

And you know that most of the people under the stones died quietly in their beds with their families near by and the people beyond died horribly from evil caught unexpectedly in the midst of their daily morning routines. And the names of the one are gone and the names of the other may never be known. Both names put on stone, like Ozymandius, mean nothing. The end result is the same.

            What can each of us learn from this? To be prepared for whatever comes in the next second, hour, day, or year. To realize that evil is equally countered by good if we remember look for the latter in the quiet corners. To believe that miracles can and will happen no matter how bad things appear at first glance. To know that how we will be remembered is by how we touch people today. It is people's memories of us and our actions that will bring each of us true immortality, not our name on a stone.

Most importantly, we should remember not to seize the day or the hour, but to seize the moment and hold it tight for it will be gone and replaced by we know not what. Each of us needs to keep these moments to sustain us. As T.S. Elliot said in the appropriately titled “The Waste Land:”

            “These fragments I have shored against my ruins…

            Shantih”

                                                                        By Kathleen E. Rourke

                                                                        December 2001

 

Kathleen Rourke is the Red Cross community volunteer leader in Tompkins County, Spiritual Care lead and Disaster Action Team member with more than 20 years of experience

'The Country Really Came Together': Red Crosser Recounts Resilience in Nation's Darkest Days

“I’m very proud of the Red Cross.”

Charles Blake has been with the American Red Cross for almost 40 years, so it’s not surprising he would have pride in the organization. In this case, however, the Southwest and Rocky Mountain Division Disaster Executive is talking about a specific event from 20 years ago.

The then-Senior Director of Emergency Services and International Services for the National Capital Region started the morning of September 11, 2001, meeting with the Chief of the Metro Police, talking about a contract to provide first aid training and other services to the department. That meeting ended when an employee rushed in saying that a plane had crashed into a World Trade Center tower. They rushed around the corner in time to see the second plane hit the second tower on live TV.

“We didn’t realize it was a second plane,” Blake remembers. “We thought it was a replay.”

Shaken, Blake went on with his day, which involved an event away from the K-Street office in DC. He was carpooling with an FBI agent also scheduled to attend that event, talking about the incidents earlier that morning in NYC.

“The FBI agent said, ‘You know, if this is terrorist activity, the next target will likely be the Pentagon,’” Blake said. Four minutes later, he received a call saying a plane had in fact crashed into the Pentagon. They immediately turned the car around to return to the Red Cross office and saw thousands of people running out of office buildings in chaos.

“When I first got to the office, we still weren’t sure what we were dealing with,” Blake said. With a line of people outside Red Cross Square looking to donate blood, he began working to set up a larger donation center, until the Disaster Operation Center called and said they needed him at the Pentagon. Blake began on what he calls a “life changing experience,” working with partners to stand up a respite center for first responders and families who had lost loved ones in the tragedy. Volunteers provided food and emotional support, and helped coordinate the distribution of the many donations that came in to help.

“I felt a huge responsibility to get this off on the right foot,” Blake says. “The country really came together, supporting us with their dollars and their prayers. For 30 days, you could walk down the street wearing the logo and people would come up and donate cash or checks. It was a very scary time for us, but we came through. Folks did a spectacular job taking care of first responders and families.”

A photo of Blake on a cell phone in front of the Pentagon still hangs on the wall of the Red Cross Disaster Operations Center, and the emotions from responding to terrorist attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and Shanksville, PA, remain as well.

“I still have emails I haven’t opened from that time, burned on a CD,” Blake said. “We survived it. We came back. We’re resilient.”

As Division Disaster Executive, Blake has responded to a lot of disasters, and is currently supporting the Hurricane Ida relief efforts in the Gulf. However, he will make time this week to help represent the Red Cross at a private wreath-laying ceremony for select agencies at the Pentagon as we remember those tragic events that took the lives nearly 3,000 people at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and Shanksville, PA, 20 years ago.

“We’ve always been here to help for 140 years, hope to continue for 140 more,” Blake says. “It’s people coming together. We all have ownership in the Red Cross.”

-Jay Bonafede, American Red Cross

'Tremendous humanity' in the face of horror: Red Cross volunteer recounts the hours following the September 11 attacks

Peggy McGee-Smith’s smiling face is staring back at me via my monitor as I fumble through the Microsoft Teams settings to find a way to record what I know will be one of those once-in-a-lifetime discussions…the chance to talk with someone who was on the ground in response to one of the most heartbreaking disasters in U.S. history – the 9-11 attacks.

A Red Cross volunteer for approximately 25 years and counting, Peggy specializes in providing mental health support for those affected by disaster and loss, a talent well-honed by her 32-year career as a psychiatric/community health nurse at the Buffalo Psychiatric Center.

Her warm, affable personality suddenly turns serious as she traces her experience with the 9-11 response. She recalls catching the first news of a plane hitting one of the towers and having no comprehension that it could be a terrorist attack.

“I actually went to the chapter office (in Buffalo) after the first plane hit because I was wondering if there was going to be a Red Cross response,” she recalls.  “By the time I got there, things had changed (with the second plane hitting the other tower) and we all realized this was something more serious.”

I watch and listen intently.  As someone who has spent nearly my entire public relations career in not-for-profit organizations, I am used to the mantra related to the importance of volunteers put forth by many organizations and, candidly, actions don’t always match words. I am finding out quickly that the Red Cross is much different and am a bit astounded as I listen to Peggy’s story and see vivid proof of the leadership roles that volunteers play in our response.

“Ken Turner (the Western NY Regional Disaster Officer) asked me to rent a car and drive to the area to meet other volunteers.  I think I got the very last car at the rental agency because I heard the rep tell the person after me that he was out of cars.”

Her face suddenly turns more serious, almost somber, as she recalls her drive to New York City.  “I remember that on the way down it seemed like there were no other vehicles on the road…just mine and ambulances.”

Her somber tone intensifies as she recounts the initial moments the next morning when she entered the city.

“I went to the Red Cross headquarters in Manhattan and there were hundreds of people there wanting to volunteer.  It was people everywhere!”

Peggy pauses to collect herself for a moment as another memory surfaces.  She shares that she was appointed to serve as a shelter supervisor and riding in a van when, on the way to their destination, they were flagged down by a desperate woman, walking along the road with her elderly mother and seeking help.  It’s just one of many anecdotes that she shares that bring her emotion to the surface.

“There was a lot of confusion and tremendous need,” she recalls.  “I don’t have flashbacks, but have very clear recollections. There was tremendous humanity despite the horror.”

Among those recollections is the story of a father who had a son working in one of the towers for Cantor-Fitzgerald.  He shared with Peggy that his son had been somewhat of a challenge as a youth but had turned things around and was successful in life.  The father was distraught because he had lost every bit of paper for his son, papers given by various agencies involved in the rescue and recovery operation. Peggy helped him find the papers.

Another story was that of a young girl, frantically looking for a spot on the wall to place a picture of her brother, one of the thousands missing after the collapse of the towers.  Peggy helped her find an available space near the stairs.

“Everything there was so powerful,” Peggy shares as she once again pauses to collect herself.

And while the memories continue to bring forward raw emotion, calm returns to her face as she states, “I’m grateful that I was part of the Red Cross and that I could be of service.  It was powerful for all of us,” she says, referring to her brother and nearly a dozen others from the Buffalo area who served in New York City.  Her initial stay lasted just over two weeks and, after a brief respite back home, she went back down for another three weeks near the end of October.

As we near the end of our conversation, she shares one more tidbit about the level of engagement and empowerment of Red Cross volunteers that strikes me, as well as those who they assist, as extraordinary. It comes from yet another of the 80-90 disaster relief responses she estimates to have been a part, including some in Guam, Saipan, Puerto Rico and many U.S. states. This one from her experience providing assistance after an ice storm in Arkansas.

“There was a couple we were assisting, and the woman asked where we were from.  When I told her, she said something to the effect of ‘you came all the way from Buffalo, New York to help us’? That’s very powerful.” 

Powerful indeed.  But then again, we’re talking about Red Cross volunteers. Our volunteers have had a busy summer, responding to western wildfires, the building collapse in Surfside, Florida, the tragic flooding in Tennessee, and Hurricane Ida and its impact in the Gulf and East Coast regions…and those are just the national disasters to which Red Cross volunteers have responded.  Closer to home they have been essential in providing aid to more than 1,100 individuals impacted by home fires and flooding in areas like Lockport and Broome and Steuben counties.  We are actively recruiting volunteers and need more people like Peggy who are interested in lending a helping hand in times of greatest need.  Please visit redcross.org, call 1-800-Red-Cross or email RecruitWNY@redcross.org to find out how you can join our team of heroes. 

Story by: Michael Tedesco, Director of Communications, American Red Cross of Western New York