story5710.xml
Title
story5710.xml
Source
born-digital
Media Type
story
Date Entered
2002-09-11
911DA Story: Story
This is meant as an addition to my earlier story, submitted yesterday, as I now realize that I neglected to include one of the most touching experiences I had volunterring down at Ground Zero.
For days and nights, I worked serving meals to the uniformed services men and women, who worked around the clock down at Ground Zero. In the beginning, they would walk into the restaurant where I was volunteering, covered in debris and dust, not wanting to make conversation, wanting to sit alone and try to grasp the magnitude of what they were witnessing day in day out. All I could do was serve them some food, offer them coffee, tea, a cold drink to go, clean up their place, and move on to clean up for the next shift. At times, there were police officers,NPYD detectives, FEMA workers, traffic cops lined up in a steady stream out the door and onto Canal Street.
The amazing thing for me was how appreciative they were that we were there to help THEM. These people were so selfless, so giving, so into helping out down at this tragic site.
They insisted on tipping me.....which I refused, time and again. I repeatedly told them this was the least I could do for them....that they spent their days and nights trying to help people just like myself...not just on 9-011, but every day......they were incredulous.
One big, burly police officer was adament that I take his LARGE tip (the tip was almost as huge as the man himself!). I told him to please keep his money, though the gesture was greatly appreciated, and take his wife and/or girlfriend out one night. He persisted, and I resisted. Finally, he placed his flashlight, which he used to try and help find victims in the rubble, into my hand and said that he insisted that I take this instead.....and that I should keep it with me so that at least he knew that if I was ever in a building that lost power or had a tragic event such as that at the WTC, that at least he would know I could have a chance to find my way out of that building.
A touching moment that will never leave me...the flashlight remains front and center on my bedroom bureau, right next to a framed picture given to me by a police sargent I also met volunteering down at Ground Zero.....it had been computer generated by the NYPD for their own people....and the NYFD and port authority police officers.....a skyline of lower manhattan at night...with the two towers standing; on one, a flag draped the height of one tower; the other, covered with NYPD, NHFD, NYPA logos running down its height; underneath, "Remember the Heroes," and the date; at the bottom, a police officer and a fire department officer, in full uniform, and in silhouette. Two of the items I treasure most in my life...and I always will.
For days and nights, I worked serving meals to the uniformed services men and women, who worked around the clock down at Ground Zero. In the beginning, they would walk into the restaurant where I was volunteering, covered in debris and dust, not wanting to make conversation, wanting to sit alone and try to grasp the magnitude of what they were witnessing day in day out. All I could do was serve them some food, offer them coffee, tea, a cold drink to go, clean up their place, and move on to clean up for the next shift. At times, there were police officers,NPYD detectives, FEMA workers, traffic cops lined up in a steady stream out the door and onto Canal Street.
The amazing thing for me was how appreciative they were that we were there to help THEM. These people were so selfless, so giving, so into helping out down at this tragic site.
They insisted on tipping me.....which I refused, time and again. I repeatedly told them this was the least I could do for them....that they spent their days and nights trying to help people just like myself...not just on 9-011, but every day......they were incredulous.
One big, burly police officer was adament that I take his LARGE tip (the tip was almost as huge as the man himself!). I told him to please keep his money, though the gesture was greatly appreciated, and take his wife and/or girlfriend out one night. He persisted, and I resisted. Finally, he placed his flashlight, which he used to try and help find victims in the rubble, into my hand and said that he insisted that I take this instead.....and that I should keep it with me so that at least he knew that if I was ever in a building that lost power or had a tragic event such as that at the WTC, that at least he would know I could have a chance to find my way out of that building.
A touching moment that will never leave me...the flashlight remains front and center on my bedroom bureau, right next to a framed picture given to me by a police sargent I also met volunteering down at Ground Zero.....it had been computer generated by the NYPD for their own people....and the NYFD and port authority police officers.....a skyline of lower manhattan at night...with the two towers standing; on one, a flag draped the height of one tower; the other, covered with NYPD, NHFD, NYPA logos running down its height; underneath, "Remember the Heroes," and the date; at the bottom, a police officer and a fire department officer, in full uniform, and in silhouette. Two of the items I treasure most in my life...and I always will.
Collection
Citation
“story5710.xml,” September 11 Digital Archive, accessed January 2, 2026, https://911digitalarchive.org/items/show/14941.