story1718.xml
Title
story1718.xml
Source
born-digital
Media Type
story
Date Entered
2002-09-04
911DA Story: Story
It was a little past 9:00am; there were 8-10 parents in attendance at our schools first PTA meeting for the year. I was the President of the PTA at the time and had just started to tell everyone what a great year we would have.
We were so happy that this year was going to be very exciting for the children.
Someone?s cell phone rang; she answered it and started to say, "NO NO, IT'S A JOKE, IT CAN'T BE TRUE, OH MY GOD!" Everyone in the room was frozen in time as she told us that two planes hit the Trade Center.
I thought my husband had just left Staten Island to go into the city to one of the hospitals. I did not know which one, only that he was at a training course, near the Trade Centers.
"I could not start to think about this now" I said to myself. I had to think of what had to be done to help the children and parents of my school.
Since most of my parents and students had family or friends that worked there, I told everyone to use the phone in my office to call loved ones. While phone calls were being made I went to the Principal, to see what help she needed. She told me she needed parents to help release the children to their parents who were now coming to the school. Many of the parents live within walking distance from the school. By 12:00 the school was almost empty, only a few children remained, my daughter being one of them.
I called my mom and had her pickup Victoria to take her to my sister?s house, so I could try to find my husband.
After many hours of calling David's cell phone he picked up. He said he was fine but would not be home until around 10:00pm if he could get home. David told me to pack 2 bags of rescue equipment so that we could go to the site and help with the search and rescue. We both were former Police Department employees. I packed the necessary items we would need to do the job that lay ahead of us.
David final got home. We left for the Staten Island Yankee Stadium. That was where the police were waiting to go over to the site. It was also to be an emergency morgue site (fortunately never needed).
Since the ball field is just across the harbor from the Trade Center, I could see and smell the devastation of the attack. I will always live with the memory of sitting there that night and watching the fires burn. The quietness of the night, no planes, no pedestrians, no laughter, only the lonely sirens of emergency vehicles and the humming of the generators on several of the refrigerated trailers.
My thoughts were many, would there be another attack, where, when, what would I see when I went to the site. I imagined many things but none of it was even close to what I saw in the weeks that followed.
By the morning of the 12th a small relief center was started, people were bringing clothes, food, and various supplies to the ball field. A girl named Lynne was taking names and supplies in. She asked me to take over for her; she was going to the site with some nurses.
After many hours of logging in police, fire, nurses, doctors, and construction workers, who were taking the ferry to the site, I became the person people looked to for direction and leadership.
Over the next few weeks I spent up to 20 hours a day at the relief center. There were over 700 volunteers, who cooked meals for Ground Zero, the Landfill, Police and Fire stations, and the US Army. These people not only cooked meals but made rescue packs for the workers at Ground Zero, (gloves, tee-shirts, respirators, socks, shoes, pants, water, etc.). The rescue workers would send wish lists to us and we would fill the order. If we did not have what they needed, I would get on the phone and call everyone I could think of to fill the orders.
I arranged for several golf carts for the transport of food, personnel, and supplies so that the trips on the ferry, to Ground Zero, and various other sites in Lower Manhattan could be made since many of the streets and sidewalks were impassable during the first days.
There are so many things I could say about what I saw at Ground Zero, but I would rather focus on the people and the acts of kindness that I experienced. Each person that came though the relief center was special in his or her own way.
Like the little boy (5 yrs. old) who wanted to give a pair of leather gloves that he bought with his savings to a firefighter. Or the 90+ women who wanted to help but could not cook, or do paperwork because of her poor eyesight so instead she offered to go to the store and buy staples for me. She was gone for 3 hours. When she came back she said she that did not have a car so she walked to the store and back. The store was over a mile a way.
It's these stories that I think of when I remember my days of and after September 11, 2001.
I would like to thank all of the people that touched my life.
We were so happy that this year was going to be very exciting for the children.
Someone?s cell phone rang; she answered it and started to say, "NO NO, IT'S A JOKE, IT CAN'T BE TRUE, OH MY GOD!" Everyone in the room was frozen in time as she told us that two planes hit the Trade Center.
I thought my husband had just left Staten Island to go into the city to one of the hospitals. I did not know which one, only that he was at a training course, near the Trade Centers.
"I could not start to think about this now" I said to myself. I had to think of what had to be done to help the children and parents of my school.
Since most of my parents and students had family or friends that worked there, I told everyone to use the phone in my office to call loved ones. While phone calls were being made I went to the Principal, to see what help she needed. She told me she needed parents to help release the children to their parents who were now coming to the school. Many of the parents live within walking distance from the school. By 12:00 the school was almost empty, only a few children remained, my daughter being one of them.
I called my mom and had her pickup Victoria to take her to my sister?s house, so I could try to find my husband.
After many hours of calling David's cell phone he picked up. He said he was fine but would not be home until around 10:00pm if he could get home. David told me to pack 2 bags of rescue equipment so that we could go to the site and help with the search and rescue. We both were former Police Department employees. I packed the necessary items we would need to do the job that lay ahead of us.
David final got home. We left for the Staten Island Yankee Stadium. That was where the police were waiting to go over to the site. It was also to be an emergency morgue site (fortunately never needed).
Since the ball field is just across the harbor from the Trade Center, I could see and smell the devastation of the attack. I will always live with the memory of sitting there that night and watching the fires burn. The quietness of the night, no planes, no pedestrians, no laughter, only the lonely sirens of emergency vehicles and the humming of the generators on several of the refrigerated trailers.
My thoughts were many, would there be another attack, where, when, what would I see when I went to the site. I imagined many things but none of it was even close to what I saw in the weeks that followed.
By the morning of the 12th a small relief center was started, people were bringing clothes, food, and various supplies to the ball field. A girl named Lynne was taking names and supplies in. She asked me to take over for her; she was going to the site with some nurses.
After many hours of logging in police, fire, nurses, doctors, and construction workers, who were taking the ferry to the site, I became the person people looked to for direction and leadership.
Over the next few weeks I spent up to 20 hours a day at the relief center. There were over 700 volunteers, who cooked meals for Ground Zero, the Landfill, Police and Fire stations, and the US Army. These people not only cooked meals but made rescue packs for the workers at Ground Zero, (gloves, tee-shirts, respirators, socks, shoes, pants, water, etc.). The rescue workers would send wish lists to us and we would fill the order. If we did not have what they needed, I would get on the phone and call everyone I could think of to fill the orders.
I arranged for several golf carts for the transport of food, personnel, and supplies so that the trips on the ferry, to Ground Zero, and various other sites in Lower Manhattan could be made since many of the streets and sidewalks were impassable during the first days.
There are so many things I could say about what I saw at Ground Zero, but I would rather focus on the people and the acts of kindness that I experienced. Each person that came though the relief center was special in his or her own way.
Like the little boy (5 yrs. old) who wanted to give a pair of leather gloves that he bought with his savings to a firefighter. Or the 90+ women who wanted to help but could not cook, or do paperwork because of her poor eyesight so instead she offered to go to the store and buy staples for me. She was gone for 3 hours. When she came back she said she that did not have a car so she walked to the store and back. The store was over a mile a way.
It's these stories that I think of when I remember my days of and after September 11, 2001.
I would like to thank all of the people that touched my life.
Collection
Citation
“story1718.xml,” September 11 Digital Archive, accessed December 14, 2025, https://911digitalarchive.org/items/show/12258.