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2002-05-29

How I Remember 9-11-01

By Marilyn Albright

The day started off as a typical day at the place I work, The Salvation Army Service Center in Somerset, PA at 8:30 am. We had a coffee house ministry in back with a big screen TV. Two of the teachers from the Technology Center were here getting ready for their classes. They taught G.E.D. classes to local adults. A normal day I open the incoming mail, then make plans for future collections and distributions like the ?Back to School? program where we just gave out $13,000 dollars in school supplies and $50 vouchers to Kmart for new school clothes for school aged kids. Then we were about to start the planning stages for our Community Thanksgiving dinner. Everyday we have at least 3 or 4 individuals who come in for assistance with food, emergency energy assistance or eviction prevention. Sometimes they need help with medical problems.

I made coffee, was wiping down the counter top when Esther Landis came running in to tell me that a plane went down out near Lambertsville Road. Esther has a scanner. I thought she was talking about a small plane. I didn't pay very much attention to what she was saying because that news didn't effect me. About that time, Bertha Anderson, (Salvation Army Human Services Secretary, employee at our office) came running in telling us to turn on the TV that two planes have crashed. She sounded very serious, so I did turn on the TV. We were all watching over and over how the plane crashed into the World Trade Center. Then somewhere between 9 and 9:15 a second plane crashed into the other Twin Tower. Then about the same time another plane had crashed into the Pentagon. When they said the Pentagon????.that is when it hit me! All of a sudden I felt a cold chill with goosebump (a mock terrorist attack on a mall) back a couple of months ago at Greengate Mall in Greensburg, PA. There must have been 400 people there. I just was paired up with one of the leaders in training so that I could learn from his actions. It was kind of an ?on the job training exercise. He had been at disasters many times before but never as the person in charge. I learned quickly that you have to just root your way up to the command post or you will never get in to do your job. The main goal is to find out how many people will be working in the area and for how long. Then get that communication back to the outside folks who can arrange to get the food.

I was in disbelief. It felt like it was not true, it felt like a movie. I just couldn't peel myself away from the TV. Like everyone else I began to get scared we were at war.

I received a phone call from our Divisional Head Quarters Emergency Disaster Services, Bob Meyers. He wanted me to verify that it was a commercial airline that went down in Shanksville, PA. I was in shock again. I told him I would call the state troopers to verify then call him right back. I hung up the phone, then tried to call the state trooper, but I had no dial tone! That was really starting to scare me more. Then I received another phone call from Fran Brace, from DHQ telling me that Chris Crow, Salvation Army Senior Field Rep would be on his way out to pick me up to go out there. I told her I couldn't make calls out for her to call Bob Meyers to let him know I couldn't verify the plane crash. I then went to my car to get my cell phone. Again I tried to call the state trooper, no luck. We could receive calls but couldn't call out. I tried calling home but couldn?t. That was totally scaring me, I kept trying. I called my daughter in St.Louis. It worked! I woke her up, there is an hour time change, she works late so she was still in bed. I was calling her to let her know that I loved her and that I was all right. With the way the news was, I thought for some reason, I would be out of communications for a while and I just wanted to tell her to call my son and let him know that I love him and that I am ok.

My Field Representative, Chris Crow came about that time, somewhere around 9:15 or 9:20 am, picked me up and the way we went out to Shanksville. He told me that it was a commercial airline. On the way out there I told him I just attended an all day training. That was totally scaring me, I kept trying. I called my daughter in St.Louis. It worked! I woke her up, there is an hour time change, she works late so she was still in bed. I was calling her to let her know that I loved her and that I was all right. With the way the news was, I thought for some reason, I would be out of communications for a while and I just wanted to tell her to call my son and let him know that I love him and that I am ok.

While we were talking about that we arrived at Shanksville. We pulled up to an open field. It was Diamond T Coal Mine. We pulled over to the side of the gravel road and parked the car and got out. The state trooper wouldn?t let us go any further. I noticed there was probably only about 7 or 8 people there total. I noticed a priest with camouflage pants and combat boots on. I also noticed all of us were standing there looking at the puff of smoke up over the hill behind us. The state trooper wouldn?t let us go any further. It is a crime scene. We were looking at the planes circling the area. There was a helicopter circling then left the area. Rumors were that they might have recovered a survivor flying them to a hospital. Found out later, no survivors.

Chris Crow asked me, ?So what did you learn at the training that we can use today? ?
I said, ? we need to get down in further, all the way to Command Post. We have to introduce yourself as being the Salvation Army and need to know just how many people there will be here working and how long it will take so that we can start planning how to provide nourishment for the recovery workers.?

Chris Crow got the state trooper to take him down there to the crash site to talk to who ever were in charge at the time. I am not sure if it was the Director of the Emergency Management Agency or someone else at the time. It was still very early. By this time the people were just multiplying. I was looking for a place to go to the restroom. There was a cornfield nearby that looked pretty good except everyone watched as you entered it and came back out. I looked around for a house; there was a nearby house. There were vans with satellite dishes lining up in a row. At that time there were probably 4 TV stations there with news crews. I wanted to hurry because I was afraid I would miss Chris when he came back and he might not be able to find me in the crowd of people that was starting to form. I walked down the long gravel driveway to the house looking for a bathroom but no luck. I rang the doorbell, no answer. Then on the way back, I found a port-a-potty they had already brought. I guess by that time there were probably close to 150 people.

This is when my memory is kind of fuzzy but I think by now a Salvation Army Canteen from Uniontown came. They had some supplies in stock, but they were not prepared for something of this magnitude. I wasn?t even thinking about being hungry at this point, but was concerned about getting some food for the 150 ? 200 people that would soon be hungry.

Chris Crow did come back to tell us that there would be at least 150 people down there in the hole and it would probably be from 2 to 4 weeks. Then Esther and I walked over to one of the news men and asked if we could do a on the air plea for some sandwiches and bottled water & pop. Then within a half an hour we started getting buried with truckloads of soda, water and sandwiches. We stacked it into the Canteen until it was running over, so we had to try to stack it outside. Dew was setting in. We knew we had to get the food in coolers. We needed ice. A gentleman from Camp Allegheny ?Stoystown came by to ask if we needed help. I said yes, we need ice, we also need trash bags as well as someone to take the trash. He did.

I went back into town to try to order breakfast for the next day from Burger King. That didn?t work, they couldn?t handle the volume. He said they didn?t even have that much in the freezer. So I went to McDonalds. Luckily there were two in town so they worked together. They came up with 300 breakfast sandwiches for 7 am. They said they would accept a Salvation Army voucher. Then I went back to the crash site.

It was getting late, sometime after 12 midnight. Chris Crow told me I should just go on home. He said he would stay there all night. I said maybe I could get him what ever he needed, he had contacts in his eyes, I could go to Wal-Mart and get him some contact solution and a case. So I did, I also got him a clean change of clothes. Then I took it back out to him, then went home. I went home to get some sleep, came back at 6 am. I picked up the food at McDonalds and took it out to the site.

That morning more people were there. The amount of people must have doubled. There was media crawling all over the place. There were newspaper people from Ireland, New York, Canada, PA, all over. There were people taking pictures of us with big cameras, video cameras. I heard we were on the news again and again. Also during the night, another canteen came relieving the one from Uniontown. Then another one came. There were two Salvation Army canteens there facing each other. Sandwiches were pouring in. I was worried that the sandwiches were getting smashed. But we managed to keep them out of the sun.

The Johnstown Salvation Army Corp offered to bring breakfast the next day, since McDonald?s couldn?t do that many sandwiches again that quickly. I was suppose to try to figure out how to feed 400 people three times a day. I went back into Somerset to get a phone book and try to call some places to get some food catered in. Major Carney of Johnstown Salvation Army suggested that I call the Meals on Wheels program. That was a stroke of genius. That worked out very well. I called Art DiLoretto, Director of the Area Agency on Aging about breakfast for 400 Seven days a week for at least the next three weeks. He said yes without batting an eye. I was sooooo grateful. Now, to work on lunch and supper.

During all this walking around, trying to get the cell phone to work, I saw three phone companies there installing telephone poles and satellite dishes. I saw the AT&T man pull up in his van. When he got out of the van, I asked him if he could loan us about 10 phones and service so that we could talk to each other, (meaning the 6 different canteens in the recovery efforts here). He said he would have to call his supervisor. He did, and it was moments later, he said he would bring them in the morning. So by day three we had phones to communicate with each other. I felt that was a major accomplishment because we were running back and forth trying to see what each other had and need so that we can continue to feed enough people.

By day three the Calvary showed up, The Salvation Army Emergency Disaster Crew from Pittsburgh and from Ohio. They were tied up with the New York efforts. They came to help us get better organized and give us a couple of days off. At that point we needed a break. They said that we were doing a very good job, but?.. we could clean the place up and get better organized. They were professionals at disaster work. They knew that the food had to be institutionalized. By that I mean it has to be catered in and put in bulk containers so that we can keep the hot food hot and the cold food cold. Food Safety was of utmost importance. They stressed the importance of not letting the FBI get food poisoning by all the well-meaning churches who kept bringing in all the pasta, chicken and sandwiches with mayo.

The Emergency Disaster Services, Western PA?s Director, Robert Meyers told me I would be in charge of the food. That scared me, I was really afraid and dreading to plan the Thanksgiving Dinner and that was only for 175 people and it is only one meal. The meals here are for 400 people three times a day?.. AND for at least 3 more weeks!!!!

Then he looked at Chris Crow and told him he would be in charge of the volunteers to man the Canteens. They would have to serve 12-hour shifts from 10am to 10pm. Then the next shift would be 10 pm to 10 am. They also brought a trailer to set up at what was called the staging area. Then there was another area called the Command Post. There was a third area called the Decon area, (Decontamination area), the fourth area was the Morgue, then there was the canteen who rode the perimeter, they were the Ligonier Canteen.

I was putting in 16 hours a day, 7 days a week. After a while, people found out what my phone number was so my little cell phone was ringing and ringing. I was receiving calls from churches, businesses, the fire hall, all wanting to donate food. They all had times and amounts they were going to deliver. I had to try to coordinate big tubs of food. I remember some lady calling me wanting to donate fried chicken. I tried to explain that we were going to have to order the food catered in because of safety reasons. She cried, telling me she just wanted to help her country. I told her I needed 400 pieces. I told her I also needed mashed potatoes too and a roll. She said she would do her best. She tried and tried, she only could come up with 260 pieces bless her heart. She really had to struggle to find that many pieces. The food was late getting to us. I was getting heat from the bosses above. I didn?t have dinner by 4 pm. It was gong on 5:30 when she finally brought it. I had to meet her at the Shanksville Fire Hall because the State Troopers wouldn?t let her in.

I had people calling me telling me they had Olive Garden donating 60 dinners, Sub Shops donating 300 sub sandwiches on Tuesday of next week. I had a lot of confusion. My brain was going to mush. I did notice that The Salvation Army had a refrigerator tractor and trailer finally for all the stuff that needed it. That was a blessing. I am so grateful for Annie Daniels at the Shanksville Volunteer Fire Hall, for coordinating the non-perishable food donations. She was filtering a lot of the hot food to us. There were so many local people who came forward to bring us literally anything we asked for. I remember the local fuel company filling a big tank so that we could fill up our little off road vehicles. I remember the local Harley Davidson Dealer loaning us a 4 wheeler for us to haul stuff to each of the canteens.

Mark Tsantes of Emergency Disaster Services of Western PA Salvation Army was on the phone with Eat ?N Park corporate office. They were negotiating a deal with the meals every day for lunch and dinner. I was hoping it would start soon. It was really hard for me to get a definite answer out of people who would donate only part of the food, and not deliver, and?? on a day that I already had something else coming in.

I remember people walking up to me asking to volunteer. I would give them Chris Crow?s phone number because sometimes he wouldn?t be in the same area I was.

I want to recognize as many of the folks who helped that I can remember. I apologize if I left any out, or they gave but wasn?t affiliated with me. Here are the ones I was aware of:
Chuck Wagner, Annie Daniels, Art DiLoretto, Pam Kalish, Laura Taragawa, Carol Gary & Daughter, Nina Lensbouer, AT&T, Keystone Coca Cola, Snyder?s of Berlin, Highland Harley Davidson, Promistar Bank, Ice Factory, Dunkin Donuts, DugOut Pizzaria, Kutos, Starbucks Coffee, Walmart, Red Lobster, Olive Garden, Italian Oven, Kings, Wendy?s, RJ Farmers Market, Ryan?s, Blacklick Fire Dept., Area Agency on Aging, Chuckwagon Caterers, Shanksville Lutheran Church, Holly House, St. Paul?s Lutheran Church-Buckstown, Stoystown,PA, Sue Livingston-Home Bakery, Church of the Nazarene, Laurel Trinity Church, Dana Johnson, Black Lick Fire Auxillary-Indiana Co., Star Fund Raising, Ken Burkett, Meyersdale Medical Centre, Scheffel Equipment, the Youth Group with Ben Lowry, Joe Knee, John Dick, Jessica Butala, Sam Elayazra, Janet Fuoss & Cheryl Sechrist, St. Thomas Lutheran Church, Jack and Helen Haugle, Lynette L. Ely, Emily Jane Hickson, Woman?s Christian Service, Council of United Church of God, U.M. Mathews, Emily Cupp, Carol E. Troutman, Patricia L. Weir, Vivian Ohrs, Rockwood Rotary Club, Caroline & Andrew Sheeler, William Mignona, Demis Deist, Glenda Bittner, Linda Troll-North Star Education, First Christ Church, Mennonite Church Sunday School, Brownie Troop # 449, Springs Folk Festival, Gertrude and Bill Hanes, Robert Brant, Keim?s Sales and Service, Bonnie Peterson, Mosholder Insurance Agency, Margaret Mimmick, Women?s Civic Club- Confluence, Pastor Geo VanRiper and wife Nadine, Kathleen Goughmour-Bever Falls, PA, Gregory Hoffmans Construction Co., Mr. & Mrs. Durst, Messiah Lutheran Church, St. Paul?s United Church of Christ, Fleetwood Trailer Employees, Mr. & Mrs. Edward Burnsworth, Soloman Run Ladies Auxillary, Ann Bender, Theodore Stoner, Cotter & son Milk Transport, Jane Baldwin, Debbie Barron, Becky Leasure, Carolyn Nicholson, Colleen Caffrey, Swieckly Apa, Tim Nanoca, M. J. Gary, Tina Reczek, Daniel Winters, Bonnie Crosby, Esther Landis, Melanie Heiple, wm McGinley, Cathy Lambertus, Machelle Aurandt, Susan Courtney, Mike Bowser, Penny Mason, Berdette Stutzman, Donna Flickinger, Bill Mapgly, Robin Marsh, Pam Bodziak, Rob Heinrich, Esther Pitt, Ken Burkett,
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I am running out of steam, its late, I have a busy day tomorrow. I want to just sum this writing up with this:

Over 22,850 meals served to disaster workers and volunteers later, The Salvation Army truly considers it a privilege to assist others during crisis. We believe that this is our role: to provide physical, emotional, and spiritual support to those in need, whether during a national crisis or in the lives of those facing personal crisis. We assigned 7 Canteens, 6 support units and 3 operational trailers. We gave out 1,000 Bibles to media, families of the victims, and volunteers.

I am going to just share part of a letter I wrote as a letter to the editor right after the recovery efforts:

The whole experience during the disaster recovery has significantly moved me. I witnessed uncommon gallantry and spirit from this community -- people offered literally anything we asked for. We all had a role in the recovery and each person made the difference in how smoothly the operation went.

This community revealed values and character traits that I really admire. We pulled skills from within that we didn?t even know we had. I feel strength knowing that there are probably people like us all over this great nation. I have more faith now than ever, that we will overcome this tragedy.

I feel tired physically and emotionally- and in my thoughts about the country, I feel wounded. But I feel healing going on knowing that together we can accomplish a lot more than we ever dreamed.

I want to thank the surrounding six Salvation Army Corps for lending its time, talents, volunteers, and resources. It truly does take an army of people who care.

After seeing firsthand what we can do when we work together as a nation, I feel proud to live in Pennsylvania and proud to be an American. Thank God for all of you.

Marilyn Albright, Service Center Director
The Salvation Army