story1434.xml

story1434.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-08-23

I watched the attacks on television and that morning reported into my Chapter in Santa Rosa California. I put my name on the list as available and shortly after September 11 was sent to Brooklyn as a Family Services worker. I was assigned with a team of seven others, nurses, mental health, and family service to Ground Zero. My job was to roam the streets and stop people allowed in to return to their apartments to claim their things. I also worked on a card table in various apartment buildings interviewing clients. I found people who needed assistance and helped arrange funerals, mental health care, food, family grants, and various other needs. We set up makeshift offices in Battery Park's vacated apartment buildings, South End and River Terrace below the barracades. The work was the most difficult, emotionally stressful job I have ever undertaken. We assisted many of the 43,000 families that had been evacuated and heard heart wrenching stories day after day for 30 days. The fire was burning and the smoke gave me a cough that lasted for ten months. I was there from September 22 through October 26 and returned again in January and February. I was proud to be there not only as a trained Red Cross worker but as an American. We worked there as volunteers and we didn't leave when it got tough. We gave every bit of emotional and physical strengh we had to that job. When I left New York there was nothing left of myself - I had given it all away. I feel we were all heroes and would never hesitate to do it again.

jude patch guglielmino