63 20 70359 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource American Red Cross Museum Stories Description An account of the resource A collection of stories from Red Cross Volunteers who provided emergency response in the wake of the September 11th attacks. RC Story RC Story: Story The events of 9/11 have led to many community celebrations of remembrance and reflection. In one small town in Pennsylvania the program sponsored by the local high school involved reading letters from people who serve at the front lines during times of crisis. My God childs mother asked me to write a letter for her to read at that event and the main text of this paper is a copy of my letter to Lara. October 5, 2001 Dear Lara, Your mom asked me to write a letter that could be used as part of the upcoming program at your school. She thought folks there might be interested in the reflections of a tired and deeply saddened American Red Cross (ARC) Disaster Mental Health (DMH) volunteer who has been helping out since the terrorist tragedy struck our nation. September 11th began as just another day for most Americans. Things changed quickly, though, as the hideous terrorist plot began to unfold. I was in my office at the Northampton County Mental Health office that morning helping several other staff members complete a physical office move that had begun the day before. We were positioning desks, file cabinets, and other pieces of office furniture. Someone got word that there had been a plane crash into the World Trade Center in NY City and my coworkers scrambled to get our TV set working to see the news. I simply keep moving furniture. Before too long the office was buzzing as a second plane crashed into the second Tower, and one hit the Pentagon, and another had crashed in western PA. Most work came to a standstill as more and more coworkers were watching the news or were trying to contact family members and friends. I kept doing what I could to complete the office move. My office mates kept passing by and telling me headlines that seemed more and more surreal as events unfolded and the towers began to collapse. Some may have though it odd that I kept working on my tasks for the day. Others knew I'd already taken a phone call from the Red Cross, placing me on alert to travel wherever I was needed, as soon as my destination could be determined. I have been a disaster relief volunteer for over 10 years and I am a member of ARC's Aviation Incident Response (AIR) Team. Our role is to support family members and everyone else involved in the rescue/recovery process when such incidents occur. Until I was dispatched, continuing the physical activity of the office move was something concrete I could do to help my own office staff as much as I could, before I left the area. By noon our County offices were closed. I went home and packed, finally watching some TV coverage. Folks in the disaster services field plan for "worst case" scenarios and yet no one imagined this could happen. By the time my kids got home from school, I'd gotten my assignment. I was to drive to the Johnstown area to support the relief operation for the families of those lost on United Flight 93 - the "heroes" flight on which the passengers managed to stop the terrorists before they reached their intended target. For the next 12 days, I served as the Coordinator of the Family Assistance Center (FAC). The FAC is a "safe haven" spot where family members can come together and share their thoughts, feelings, and memories with one another. There they can also talk to mental health workers and members of the clergy, doing so in a secured place designed to protect their privacy. Many prefer avoid the media, lawyers, and any others who might further victimize them at a time when they are quite vulnerable. Part of our role is to organize family member visits to the crash site, and these are usually followed by a multi-faith memorial service. Most surviving family members need to visit the site - a visit that helps them accept their loss and begin to move forward with their suddenly altered lives. Disasters (and other traumatic life events) will always change us, but they need not damage us. Our work in disaster relief is based upon the fact that people are incredibly strong and resilient. Each of us builds character as we work our way though events such as these. Gradually the victims retake control of their lives and shift from feeling like victims to feeling like survivors. About 500 family members and close friends of those lost on Flight 93 were served by our ARC team. Helping us serve them were the warm wishes and prayers of people all over the world. We received a marvelous array of flowers, cards, banners, gift baskets, comfort kits, and letters of support. Especially helpful were the touching messages from innocent children, some of whom attend a school that was near the crash site. These things all gave great comfort to the families and, when we closed the FAC, these items became part of the permanent memorial to those brave souls who lost their lives while protecting the lives of others. My experiences with mass casualty incidents always sadden me (something that generally hits us as we end our work) and this was no exception. In fact, this one was worse for me than usual. I cried off and on, all the way home from western PA. For several days thereafter, I found myself having what I've joking dubbed "random acts of crying" triggered by certain songs, pictures, or news reports. That ran its course but, as I write this letter, I'm tearing up again. I chose to write this for you as a way to pass my time while on a bus ride to NY City. I've had two weeks rest and now I'm on my way to join the larger, ongoing ARC operation there. Disaster work gives people an interesting perspective on life. For instance, when someone works as many major disasters as I have, some of the pettiness of day-to-day activities of living can be more easily ignored and it's easier to keep focused on what's important. During times of tragedy, one thing that is very important is support - support from family members, support from friends, support from communities of faith, and support from others who care enough to share something of themselves when people are in need. I'm truly privileged to be able to help out as I do when terrible things like this happen. Others may think me a bit strange (or crazy) to give up my time and volunteer as I do. The fact is, the most rewarding moments of my professional career have all come to me as an unintended and unexpected result of my volunteer work with ARC. As my bus approaches NY and, in the morning mist I can now see the altered skyline at the southern end of this great city. I find myself thinking about the 1000s of people who never got to say goodbye to their loved ones - people who never got to finish living out their dreams. Some of them also may never have experienced the joy of helping others who needed help in a time of crisis. Please encourage the audience members to let go of any animosity they harbor toward others and avoid putting off showing loved ones they care. Life is too precious a commodity to squander. As the events of 9/11 have shown us, it can be taken from us in an instant. And please encourage the audience to share some of their time, talents, and treasure helping others. They will, in turn, find they get back far more than they give. Love, Uncle John RC Story: Response Postscript The combined experiences of working in PA and NY were, for me, an awesome reminder of humanity at its best and its worst. As someone who enjoys writing, I always tend to begin my own search for meaning in stressful events via written reflection. Rather than write things that would be too upsetting for my goddaughter and her schoolmates, I shared only a few things in my letter and I tried to keep a positive focus. The following paragraphs offer a broader picture of my work and some of my more personal reactions to it. On 10/5 I traveled to NY City and began 15 days work as the Deputy Officer (second-in-charge) for the American Red Cross (ARC) Disaster Mental Health (DMH) function for the World Trade Center (WTC) operation. There, I supervised several other Assistant Officers, as we continued to manage the efforts of some 1875 DMH workers (1500 spontaneous local volunteers and 375 National ARC volunteers) who were involved to that point in time. From 9/11 to 10/19 there were over 73,000 DMH contacts made by these workers with family survivors, friends, rescue/recovery team members, construction / cleanup workers, and fellow members of the various disaster relief teams. I was struck by the size and scope of the relief effort; despite having so many people to help, we needed more. Standing at ground zero and viewing the horror, I found myself thinking that the TV coverage did not properly depict the magnitude of the devastation, nor the great needs of the victims' families, coworkers and friends. The Family Assistance Center, located on Pier 94, was as big as several jumbo jet hangers. In addition to the large group of ARC workers, there were people from many government agencies, social service organizations, support groups, etc. There were therapy dogs and their handlers working the room, in addition to all the other supports. Three or four site visits for families were run from there daily. People were taken by ferry boat/water taxi to a dock near ground zero and then walked in to the viewing location. NY also had many other work sites including our headquarters (HQ) office, eight Service Centers (at peak), kitchens, warehouses, lots of mass care emergency response vehicles, a Casualty Contact Unit (aka Integrated Care Team), and two Respite Centers (RC). These RCs were for recovery workers, police, fire, and National Guard personnel, etc. who are working on the cleanup effort. They could eat, nap, get a massage, watch TV, surf the net, get first aid, talk to clergy and DMH, etc. Everyone involved was doing superb work. In retrospect, I feel the Flight 93 operation was clearly the finest assignment I've ever had with ARC. My team there consisted of a superb group of volunteers, many of whom were on their first national assignment. The members immediately grasped their duties, dove in, functioned as a team, did whatever it took, and successfully completed the difficult mission. I was disappointed and even angry, at times, while working in NY, that things were not working as smoothly as they had in PA. In NY we had many workers who were causing additional and unnecessary problems, rather than being helpful by letting their own needs supersede those of the operation. For instance, there were some folks who did not seem to have the patience and/or flexibility to allow them to be successful in something this complex a problem that arises in all large operations. The most troubling to me, though, were people who felt they had wasted their time and their "trauma expertise" in coming to NY, if they could not work right at ground zero. They had forgotten the parts of the ARC training that stressed the importance of DMH tasks at every work setting and/or they somehow lost the vision of our overall helping mission. Luckily, I did get to meet many folks who were fine examples of the same spirit and dedication that Id seen in my Western PA team members, and that helped get me through the challenges posed each day by those who were the malcontents and troublemakers. There are many lasting memories from these events. One will be of standing next to several representatives of the Salvation Army (SA) during the second large memorial service for Flight 93 and "passing the peace" (shaking hands and saying "peace be with you") with them. Sometimes there is a rivalry between the ARC and the SA but not at a time like this. Another series of Flight 93 memories is of our caravans of buses traveling in a motorcade to the crash site prior to the memorial services. Along our route we saw many patriotically decorated homes, many with memorial displays and signs in their yards. There were police stopping traffic at every major intersection. The officers would always come to attention and salute our passengers as we passed. There was also a larger memorial set up in the small town nearest the crash site and beside it there was always a crowd of people holding supportive signs and waving flags. These simple acts of reverence had me in tears each time we passed. In PA and in NY we were able to draw strength from the many cards, letters, prayers, signs, banners, toys (especially the compassion bears), miscellaneous gifts, and floral arrangements that poured in from everywhere, and I cherish those memories. There were some scary moments too, especially for my family (I tend to generally enjoy a robust sense of healthy denial that I will be ever at-risk in my disaster relief work). As soon as the events of 9/11 began to unfold, I wanted to go somewhere and help out. My wife and kids accept that, but they were really glad I initially went to the PA site rather than NY, fearing there was more potential risk there. By the time I did go to NY, they were more comfortable that things were safe there. That feeling was short-lived, though, once the war began, as the National Guard presence there expanded and anthrax scares began. I got to experience one of those firsthand when, on my second-last day in town, our ARC HQ building was evacuated and I found myself in the potentially contaminated group of early-risers whod gotten in and had breakfast in a cafeteria where some suspicious, sticky white powder had turned up. We were quarantined for a few hours while a HAZMAT crew examined the scene and then everyone was allowed back in the building. Officials took our local and home contact information in case it turned out to be the real thing and that meant I had to tell my wife and kids in case anyone called there about it. They took it better than I imagined they would and, thankfully, it was not anthrax. Since returning from my ARC DMH assignments at the WTC operation and in Western PA, I've especially welcomed the opportunities I've had to debrief, support, and thank others for serving and to be debriefed/supported/thanked myself. In addition to that peer support, I want to stress the value of written expression, which is extremely important for both its cathartic, self-debriefing nature and, when the writings are shared, its educational and supportive benefits. Ive noticed that more and more people seem to be taking advantage of personal e-mail messages and postings to e-mail listserve groups. This public sharing offers stress inoculation to those considering joining the work and provides a great deal of comfort and peer support to all who have already been out there doing this difficult and yet personally rewarding work. RC Story: RC Volunteer yes RC Story: RC Employee no Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource rc_story12.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. unknown Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. email Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2003-10-08 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 209.173.10.76 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource American Red Cross Museum Stories Description An account of the resource A collection of stories from Red Cross Volunteers who provided emergency response in the wake of the September 11th attacks. RC Story RC Story: Story I have submitted information about my 9/11/01 work with interntional victim families of the World Trade Center. It may be of additional interest to know of the work done for the first anniversary commemoration services. That report is attached. RC Story: Response ACTIVITY REPORT August 18 September 13, 2002 Robert N. Munson Emergency Service Director Minneapolis Area Chapter American Red Cross ON ASSIGNMENT: International Family Assistance Program 9-11 Memorial Events ARC International Disaster Response Unit August 19 to September 8: Washington DC National Headquarters, American Red Cross September 8 to 13: New York City I was called to this assignment because I am a member of the American Red Cross International Response Team (IRT), a small group of people trained to deal with policies and activities of the ARC during catastrophic international disasters. Additionally I was called because I was one of the IRT team members setting up the original response to bereaved foreign nationals who lost family members on 9-11-01 in the World Trade Center, New York, and also because I am English/Spanish bi-lingual. This year, family members from around the world have been invited by the American Red Cross to come to the United States for condolence visits or memorial services with relatives living in New York. They came last September, and later in October when the city held the first Memorial Service. The travel was separate from the financial support given to each domestic and international family affected by the WTC attack. Families again were invited to New York for the 9-11-02 Memorial Services. Several hundred came, and my primary work group of three people was responsible for some two hundred who were in need of supportive local arrangements including participation in memorial events. Other visitors were part of larger national groups (Japanese, British, Australians, Canadians) whose consulate representatives made many of the local arrangements to supplement the American Red Cross travel arrangements. My specific assignment was to make arrangements for, and work with, the international Red Cross, Red Crescent, and Magan David Adom National Society social workers who had been working locally in their own countries with the issues surrounding the WTC deaths of family members. Workers from the 65 nationalities represented in the WTC deaths were invited, and 32 came to New York on September 9th from 30 countries. Peru had more than one representative. Only the principle direct service worker from each country was invited. It was intended that coming to New York was a working trip for those involved this last year. Much of my three weeks at Red Cross NHQ in Washington was consumed with the program planning for the visit, and international travel and document logistics for each individual traveler. The reason for these National Society workers to come was (1) to be a continuing support to the families who were traveling to New York from their countries, and (2) to assist the American Red Cross in evaluating our international communications and relationships during times of catastrophic disaster response. Our National Society visitors were from: Australia, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Egypt, France, The Gambia, Germany, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, India, Israel, Jamaica, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, Philippines, Portugal, Romania, Sweden, Thailand, and Venezuela. Everyone was scheduled for a Monday, 9/9/02 arrival in New York, and a Friday, 9/13/02 departure. All were booked into the same hotel. Several of the international staff from NHQ in Washington also attended as these are the staff persons working electronically with the National Society visitors on a regular basis. On Tuesday, 9/10, a five-hour session was held in our hotel which included a lessons learned evaluation session, an American Red Cross recognition of the work done internationally, and an informal reception for networking. The lessons learned was modeled after our usual disaster critique of (1) what did we do, (2) what went well, and (3) what would we do differently next time. I led much of this session bi-lingually. A few of the lessons learned included: (1) systems were set up in the manner of other international disasters which worked, although nothing this expansive had been done before, (2) ARC was efficient enough that it appeared overseas that the American staff was much larger than it was; (3) communication via electronics was rapid, but more could be done 24/7 because of the time-zones, and the international hunger for information, (3) rosters of international responders would be helpful so all participants would know who is working at the time. Many other ideas were generated and noted by the Americans for fine-tuning future responses (all responses were noted by NHQ staff). Wednesday, 9-11, was reserved for families at Ground Zero. Our National Society visitors accompanied families there, or attended memorial services throughout New York. I was designated by the team to be one of the ARC to get Red Cross and government clearance to Ground Zero. This needed to be done at 4:45 am to avoid unauthorized credentialing. With the background of the bag-pipers marching from all boroughs to the WTC site, we returned to hotels where families were staying to help facilitate their transportation and entrance to Ground Zero. I accompanied a Peruvian family and we were invited to be transported on a bus with Australian families. The atmosphere was laden with drama and the eerie hush of thousands of people introverting into their own thoughts. The reading of the names began, and one family at a time left the general area to walk down the ramp into the pit and place flowers in the circle. Bright sunshine spotlighted the swirling dust created by the high winds of the day. Some saw the dust in allegory of heavenly support I recalled the last time I was at this site, and the smoke of destruction was still coming from the pit. Later, much of New York paused for candle vigils in all boroughs, fire stations, remembrance-decorated fences, and at concerts. Thursday, 9-12, I had arranged that our National Society visitors would have a guided harbor tour of New York with six-language headsets. After the heaviness of the last two days, this was a respite and a time for international bonding which was wonderful to see. Many photos were taken of the sites, each other, of the Americans, and of every possible combination of nationalities. The last event of the National Society visit was a private Port Authority tour of the WTC site from the high-security family viewing area. At the end, I was asked by the guide to announce the nationalities of the group. I read each country from my list so that the representative could individually acknowledge their presence at Ground Zero. This was unplanned, but appeared to be a significant highlight of their trip, and one that undoubtedly will be retold to their co-workers around the world. Personal evaluation: although the four weeks was a long and sometimes draining assignment, I felt that I was of direct and positive assistance to the NHQ staff. This was confirmed by the very generous words of gratitude given to me by our National Society visitors, and most importantly by my NHQ co-workers. I routinely told people that I was on loan from Minneapolis, and that it was because of the generosity of our administration, and the talent of my staff that I was able to be gone so long, and assist in this important international work. I now have devoted 7 weeks of this last year away from the chapter for this significant disaster. Additionally at this time I have given over 30 presentations to nearly 2,000 people about the work of the American Red Cross following 9-11. This has all been a period of deep personal satisfaction because of the work accomplished, and additionally has had an undeniable personal affect to my life. Bob RC Story: RC Volunteer yes RC Story: RC Employee yes Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource rc_story15.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. unknown Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. email Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2003-10-27 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 24.123.125.147 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource American Red Cross Museum Stories Description An account of the resource A collection of stories from Red Cross Volunteers who provided emergency response in the wake of the September 11th attacks. RC Story RC Story: Story I was at my desk at the American Red Cross North Central Blood Services building in St. Paul, Minnesota. I actually work for the Tissue Services division of the ARC and I had just arrived for the day. I had been at my desk for maybe 20 minutes when a co-worker came in from her car saying that a plane had hit the World Trade Center. As we have a World Trade Center here in St. Paul, and there is a small airfield not far from that building, I was initially confused. We turned on the radio to listen for any news reports and that is when I found out there was also a World Trade Center in New York City. The only major building I knew about in NYC was the Empire State building. I was so naïve I had never even heard of the WTC. As we listened to the radio, I thought, With all the tall buildings in that city, Im surprised we havent had this problem before. It was just a matter of time before a plane would accidentally fly into a building. Going about my job, going to other peoples desks, listening to the different radio stations reporting, I thought it odd that they would evacuate the White House because someone had accidentally flown into a building. I started to realize this wasnt just an accident. The Pentagon. The second tower. The crash in Pennsylvania. Would this continue? Were there other missile planes in the air? Guards were posted at the front entrance to the building. I remember a rumor spreading about the fear of package bombs. People went about their work knowing that we would be affected more acutely as the hours went on. I went home on my lunch break and watched the coverage on the television. Replay after replay after replay of the plane striking the second tower. Again and again and again. Thousands of people covered in ash and pulverized cement, completely gray except for the dark streaks streaming from their eyes. The herds of people walking out of Manhattan. I went back to work. By early afternoon, our division of the ARC, Tissue Services (a tissue bank that supplies human tissue for transplantation) began to mobilize to ship skin for grafting to the many burn patients expected to be pulled from the rubble in NYC and Washington DC. As all aircraft were grounded, special arrangements were made to ship the skin tissue under guidelines that allowed organs and other lifesaving transplantable tissues to be shipped via air. We released as many square feet of skin grafts as we could to our distribution office in Virginia, to service both NYC and Washington. We waited for the survivors, just like the rest of the country. As the days went on, we realized those survivors were not to be found. The North Central Blood office and St. Paul Area Chapter are merely across a parking lot from one another. The phones rang constantly for a week and a half. The St. Paul Area Chapter has a blood donor room that had people waiting in line for 4 hours to give blood. There were lines for a week. No one complained about the wait. Two days after the attacks, I heard a jet flying over as I walked from my car into the office. It scared me. Terrified me. There hadnt been a commercial aircraft in the air for two days. I didnt realize how used to the silence I had become. It was a jet from the 148th Fighter Wing in Duluth, Minnesota, that was doing reconnaissance over the Twin Cities metro. At times I would look up and see the trails from the engines where the jet had made a tight turn and feel comforted. Someone was keeping watch. I've been wanting to write this down for nearly three years. I'm glad I've gotten the opportunity. RC Story: Response I aided however I could at work as well as donated to the ARC Liberty Fund and the United Way September 11th Fund. I attended two community memorial services. RC Story: RC Volunteer no RC Story: RC Employee yes Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource rc_story38.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. unknown Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. anonymously Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. email Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2004-08-19 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 162.6.235.159 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource American Red Cross Museum Stories Description An account of the resource A collection of stories from Red Cross Volunteers who provided emergency response in the wake of the September 11th attacks. RC Story RC Story: Story RC Story: Response I am a Red Cross Disaster Services volunteer and I worked at a Respite Center at Ground Zero for three weeks in October and November 2001. I made some friends there to whom I've remained close. I wanted to share an e-mail I sent to one of them shortly after my return home. I want people to know that the work affected my whole life, even now two years later. Hopefully this e-mail expresses a little bit of how I and other volunteers were feeling about our experiences: November 28, 2001. Tonight, I thought I had finally run out of tears. I was watching a videotape a friend sent me that contained a segment from a recent episode of "60 Minutes" called "Band of Brothers." It was a story about the FDNY bagpipers and how, by Thanksgiving, they will have played at over 300 funerals and memorial services. They showed a funeral at St. Patrick's Cathedral, just like the ones we stumbled upon a couple weeks ago. It could have even been one of those, who knows. It was just too familiar: the casket on the fire truck, the flag hanging between two ladder trucks, the bagpipes playing Amazing Grace. Did you know that they always play Amazing Grace when the casket and the family are going into the church? And I sat there watching it and couldn't cry. I wanted to cry. I tried to cry. But all I felt was this sick, hollow feeling of grief that went beyond tears. And I thought maybe I was finally at a point where the tears won't come so readily or so often. Maybe this was a small victory for me. Then they showed members of the band talking about how the hard part is standing in front of the church while the wife and children are going in. How they can't look at the children because it just tears them up inside. But one guy said what's even more heartbreaking than watching the family go into the church is going in themselves. He said that very few band members will go through the church doors for the service. He said it's just too much, it's too hard to do that. The program then went on to say: "But this day, every single member of the band came prepared to do that for their beloved drummer, their only member to die at the World Trade Center. They called him Bronco. He was 30 years old. He left no parents, no wife, no children. The band was his family. They gathered to, as they say, 'pipe him to Heaven.' Usually one lone piper plays Amazing Grace. Not today. For Bronco, there was a symphony. And when the playing stopped, they all carried their instruments, and their love, through the church doors." I found myself sobbing during this part, and I realized it felt good and right. Why did I think that I should stop crying? These "boys" I've come to think of as mine aren't able to stop crying, so why should I? I want to keep feeling compassion for them for a long, long time. If that means shedding frequent tears, then so be it. It's better than becoming complacent and hardened to everything that's happened. I never want to forget a single minute, a single emotion, from my WTC experience. The whole thing made me a better person at the time, now I have to strive to continue to be that better person for the rest of my life. Maybe having my heart broken just a little every day is part of being that better person. The hardest part about being home is not having someone around who knows exactly how I'm feeling and why I'm feeling it. But only someone who's lived it can do that, and there's no one here who has. I'm getting together next week with the guy from my chapter who worked in the warehouse at Respite 1, but I don't think even he can completely understand. His center was sheltered from the destruction. He never stood on a roof and looked down on the pile. He never walked down the street to work every day and came face to face with the skeletons of those walls. He never sat on his bus after work for over 30 minutes with that horror staring him in the face from a half block away. He never stood in the Oasis and watched 40 men rest with such deep grief etched into their faces that it wasn't even erased in sleep. I'm not in any way trying to diminish his experience, it was just different than mine and I don't think he'll be able to completely relate to what I'm feeling. Maybe Ill have to break his heart just a little. RC Story: RC Volunteer yes RC Story: RC Employee no Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource rc_story8.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. unknown Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. anonymously Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. email Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2003-09-18 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 165.189.161.140 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource American Red Cross Museum Stories Description An account of the resource A collection of stories from Red Cross Volunteers who provided emergency response in the wake of the September 11th attacks. RC Story RC Story: Story I was watching Good Morning America. I was also recovering from a serious surgery and was unable to bear weight. My youngest soon came home after he had just left for school, with a severe asthma attack. As he walked in the door, the television announced the first plane had struck in New York. Steven was shocked and came running into the room I was in. I spoke what I knew in my heart immediately. "Dear Blessed Mother," I told him. "We must pray." Before we finished the prayer, the second, third, and fourth plane had struck and I explained about Pearl Harbor, and that Sadly, America would never be the same. I spent the next few days feeling like a prisoner of terrorism as I could only sit and watch television, unable to walk. I never felt so helpless in my life. RC Story: Response Two years later I have recovered from a fifth surgery and I am now attending school to become a Registered Nurse. RC Story: RC Volunteer no RC Story: RC Employee no Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource rc_story4.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. unknown Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. email Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2003-09-11 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 206.244.76.234 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource American Red Cross Museum Stories Description An account of the resource A collection of stories from Red Cross Volunteers who provided emergency response in the wake of the September 11th attacks. RC Story RC Story: Story It seems like it was just an ordinary day like so many others in high school. One class had just ended and the next class was just coming in when one of the students "Chris" rushed in yelling something has just happened turn on the T.V. Switching from the discovery channel to CNN I sat in horror like the most of us...in true disbelief. The students were silent then crying in what seem to be only minutes. I remember asking God to help me with what I was seening. I remember not loosing control but rather speaking from my heart...If you believe in praying now is the time. If you you want to listen to what is going on...we will. If you want to ask questions you may just do not expect to have all the answers. I believe that at the moment I say a crisis I went into the nurse/shift. Tell them it was ok to pray. To stay healthy because the gift of life "blood" may be needed. And I encouraged them to speak to their parents about was they saw, heard, or felt. It was strange but the year before we had had two very popular young teens die in an auto accident and one child organs had been harvested to allow others to survive they were both my students for 2 years. It all came out on that very day. Students that had lost family members previously and had not had the time to grieve and heal seem to have raw wounds. As Health Occupations students and teacher we made a banner and sent it to New York City to show how much we care and that we were thinking of the survivors and the those who died... RC Story: Response My students wrote to high school students in the Bronks but the post office was not able to deliver that package and I was notified almost 10 months later. We did what we could here locally my making small donations of money to the ARC. The students made a second banner which was rolled out the main hallway at school and signed by all who passed it was taken to NYC by the group of firefighters who were on their way up to the area to help. My students made it a mission to find out as much about what was being done in both the NYC and Washington as possible. They spoke freely about all the people who died in the planes and those who helped crush a plane instead of hitting more targets. The students did well during this time of grief, confusion and unknowns. Some lost family members or knew of someone who knew someone who died. One of the students wrote a beautiful poem on the very day 9/11/2001. One student celebrated her birthday that day and wished a life to be saved as see blew out her candles. Although it was difficult we still tried to work even if it was only 30-40 mins every hour for many weeks. I believe the students learned first hand about the steps in grieving, that some parents can be well to do and loss a job in days. Can somehow growup in hours and think of others before themselves. I saw alot of positive things being done by all of us and I am proud of the part me and my students played in one of our worse disasters of our life times. As a Health Occupations Students of America (HOSA) group we had always done alot of Volunteering hours, collecting donations and items for worthy causes. RC Story: RC Volunteer yes RC Story: RC Employee no Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource rc_story34.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. unknown Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. email Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2004-06-28 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 65.32.185.213 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource American Red Cross Museum Stories Description An account of the resource A collection of stories from Red Cross Volunteers who provided emergency response in the wake of the September 11th attacks. RC Story RC Story: Story At 9:00 am I overheard someone on the train say something about a plan hitting the World Trade Center. I continued on my way, not understanding the full impact of the statement. When I arrived at my meeting which was taking place next to the United Nations,the receptionist was watching the news, which was showing live footage of plans flying into the towers. I called my father, who also lives in New York, and told him to meet at Port Authority, since we were scheduled to go out of town. When I left the building and witnessed hundreds of people walking/running uptown, away from the towers, the severity of the plans flying into the towers hit me. I then asked a store clerk to use her phone and called my sister who at the time worked at New York University. She said leaving New York would be impossible, Port Authority is closed/destroyed and I should go home. I called my father back and told him to stay home and that I was going home as well. I ended up walking, being carried by the crowd rather, and managed to make it home. I started cooking as soon as I got home, it comforted me; the images on television were too much to take. I just kept repeating to myself over and over I dont believe this. My comfort zone and security I felt as an American was torn. My sister, her husband and a co-worker walked all the way uptown to my house before continuing on their way. We had dinner in silence and disbelief. That night I had many calls and e-mails from friends and relatives from across the world. RC Story: Response I contacted the American Red Cross, Greater New York Chapter and donated socks, and bottles of water for the responders. I later obtained a position with the American Red Cross, September 11 Recovery Program. RC Story: RC Volunteer yes RC Story: RC Employee yes Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource rc_story45.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. unknown Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. email Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2005-03-25 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 162.6.232.214 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource American Red Cross Museum Stories Description An account of the resource A collection of stories from Red Cross Volunteers who provided emergency response in the wake of the September 11th attacks. RC Story RC Story: Story It was our first day of homeschooling and I had returned a telephone call from my Pastor. He secretary stated that he was home watching the World Trade Center thing. I thought it was a documentary and when I turned on the TV, we were just in time to hear the announcer talking about smoke from across the river...conflicting reports of a Pentagon attack...somewhere in the blur the second plane hit. My 5yr old asked if there were people in there. We sank to the floor, crying and praying for the people inside. When the first tower fell, it was as if the whole world had come to an end. My two little girls were crying and we were just too shocked and upset to move. I was amazed at their understanding of the huge loss of life and their empathy for the families. Then the phone began to ring. My family was afraid that I was where the plane went down in PA. I hadn't even heard of that yet. So much sorrow, so much pain and death in one shot. Never will we be the same. RC Story: Response My husband is a lay minister. We offered support and prayer for those that we came in contact with who needed it for any reason. RC Story: RC Volunteer no RC Story: RC Employee no Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource rc_story37.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. unknown Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. email Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2004-08-13 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 216.222.248.149 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource American Red Cross Museum Stories Description An account of the resource A collection of stories from Red Cross Volunteers who provided emergency response in the wake of the September 11th attacks. RC Story RC Story: Story I experienced the day as a day of numbness and shock. I wondered how our Aviation Incident Response Team was going to be involved. As a member of the Spiritual Care Aviation Incident Team (SAIR)team as it was known then, I realized that this was simply bigger than we had ever been trained for. No amount of preparation for disasters could have prepared us for what we were about to experience in being called in to either one of the sites after 9-11. RC Story: Response I was initially called to be the Night Chaplain at the Brooklyn headquarters in New York, two weeks after 9/11. I was called at 4:30pm PST Wednesday afternoon to consider responding immediately, and by 8am Thursday I was on a 767 from Seattle to JFK. It was a nearly empty flight. No more than 20 or 30 people were on board. Briefing and intake Thursday afternoon and Friday work began. By Sunday, I was moved to support and coordinate the Spiritual Care response at Ground Zero for Respite Centers 1, 2, & 3 as well as the Temporary Mortuary and Disaster Mortuary downtown. By Wednesday, I was asked to be A/O for Spiritual Care and helped coordinate work at Ground Zero and Brooklyn, including assessment of needs at the Staten Island Landfill. We coordinated over 600 spiritual caregivers and the City of New York, quickly realized that they were in deep need of support from Red Cross when it came to Spiritual Care. RC Story: RC Volunteer yes RC Story: RC Employee no Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource rc_story43.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. unknown Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. email Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2005-01-31 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 152.163.101.5 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource American Red Cross Museum Stories Description An account of the resource A collection of stories from Red Cross Volunteers who provided emergency response in the wake of the September 11th attacks. RC Story RC Story: Story I was in my second day of orientation at Einstein Medical Center as a new-grad emergency room RN. They let us out early, of course, and my husband came to pick me up. Somehow taking the subway seemed too menacing. My recollection is that without having heard a call to do so, we drove to the Red Cross center on Spring Garden Street to donate blood. I really do think we just KNEW that that's what we were supposed to do, somehow. It turned out everyone else knew that, too, and after a lengthy wait, we were told that we would be contacted if our blood was needed later on. I don't remember disappointment or anything like that--I remember how amazing it was to be with all those other people, and the feeling that in a crisis we had all had the same response. That's the power of the Red Cross, isn't it? RC Story: Response RC Story: RC Volunteer no RC Story: RC Employee no Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource rc_story19.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. unknown Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. email Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2004-01-09 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 80.131.79.68 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Council on American-Islamic Relations Stories Description An account of the resource The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) is a nonprofit, grassroots civil rights and advocacy group. Since its establishment in 1994, CAIR has worked to promote a positive image of Islam and Muslims in America. This small collection represents the memoirs of CAIR members and friends related to the events and aftermath of September 11. CAIR Story CAIR Story: Story I first heard the news at work when a colleague of mine screamed when she heard the news on radio. I was praying it would not be too devastating and that it should not be Muslim terrorists. I was disappointed on both counts. Later that day, my wife and I were at the local supermarket store checking out our stuff when the cashier passed a sly remark at her. She was wearing the Muslim head scarf. He asked me,"is she a terrorist?". I thought he was joking because my wife is short and looks pretty harmless. So I replied,"no, she isn't." I then picked up our carton of ice cream and told him,"look she eats ice cream, she can't be a terrorist". To my disappointment, I found he was serious about his comment and he replied,"I still think she is a terrorist". I wanted to complain to the manager of the store but I didn't. The cashier was a senior citizen. I figured if he hadn't learnt to respect other races and faiths in his 50 or 60 years of life, he is not going to learn today. He did manage to hurt our feelings. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource cair6.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. anonymously Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2003-09-12 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 156.63.42.10 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Council on American-Islamic Relations Stories Description An account of the resource The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) is a nonprofit, grassroots civil rights and advocacy group. Since its establishment in 1994, CAIR has worked to promote a positive image of Islam and Muslims in America. This small collection represents the memoirs of CAIR members and friends related to the events and aftermath of September 11. CAIR Story CAIR Story: Story My story isn't very exciting. I had that day off work thanks to a last-minute rescheduling. Woke up briefly for fajr but went right back to bed then woke up for good around 8:00 a.m. Pacific time and went online while eating breakfast. Usually I like to check the news first but I happened to go to a discussion forum first only to see a thread called something like "omg!!!!!!!! two planes flew into the world trade center!!!!!!!!". I couldn't believe it was true, but I went to Yahoo news and confirmed it. I was just in shock, it didn't seem real that something like that could have happened, it was like a movie or something. I called my mom and ended up being the one to break the news to her; she had just woken up herself. I offered a salat and made du'a for some time then spent some time listening to the radio but then I decided I couldn't be alone all day so I went over to spend the day with my mom. It was so awful wondering if Muslims were behind it and listening to all these so-called experts on the radio and TV going on about Bin Laden and how supposedly only Muslims are suicide bombers. Later in the day I had a job interview that had been previously scheduled. I was pretty nervous but I wore hijab like usual. My mom took me over so I didn't have to go alone. Al-hamdulillah nothing bad happened, but I figure that must have been about the worst day of the year for a hijabi Muslimah to try and get a job! Needless to say, I didn't get that job. A funny thing was that about a week or so before that, a Muslim brother that took the same bus as me had given me a videotape of "Ar-Risala"/"The Message" (the story of the Prophet Muhammad) in Arabic (the brother is Syrian), but I hadn't gotten around to watching it. So I watched it at my parents' house after coming back from the job interview. When my dad came home from work he joked that this wasn't a safe time to be watching Arabic movies. But my parents were pretty cool about it and even asked some questions what the Prophet's (sAas) story was about. The next day I went back to work. My mom suggested that I shouldn't wear hijab and jilbab but I told her I would keep doing it unless I actually felt in danger. She accepted that; it wasn't that she actually wanted me to take them off, she was just worried for my safety. At the bus stop, brother Hamza and I talked about how we couldn't believe that anybody who called himself a Muslim could do something like that. We hoped it wasn't really Muslims. At work, my co-workers showed a lot of support for me. My supervisor said that if I ever couldn't come in to work because of danger to me, that was OK and we'd work it out later. A lady who works part-time called the office just to make sure I was OK. I was really touched by all their support. I also felt like maybe I had done a kind of da'wah in a way to show them that Muslims aren't alien or "weird": Muslims are ordinary nice people like their co-worker. On the bus ride home that afternoon, people were talking a lot about the whole thing. There was a conversation on the bus, one guy was saying hateful things about Islam but this other guy said not to believe everything in the media and to listen to Bin Laden's side before judging him. I was nervous that somebody would say something to me, but they didn't and I got off the bus right after that. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource cair3.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. anonymously Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2003-09-11 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 67.75.205.157 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Council on American-Islamic Relations Stories Description An account of the resource The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) is a nonprofit, grassroots civil rights and advocacy group. Since its establishment in 1994, CAIR has worked to promote a positive image of Islam and Muslims in America. This small collection represents the memoirs of CAIR members and friends related to the events and aftermath of September 11. CAIR Story CAIR Story: Story Test Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource cair2.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2003-07-01 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 129.174.27.192 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Council on American-Islamic Relations Stories Description An account of the resource The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) is a nonprofit, grassroots civil rights and advocacy group. Since its establishment in 1994, CAIR has worked to promote a positive image of Islam and Muslims in America. This small collection represents the memoirs of CAIR members and friends related to the events and aftermath of September 11. CAIR Story CAIR Story: Story I woke up that morning as every other, early, to catch the bus for the communte to my job in Downtown Seattle. I arrived at the office, everyone was hunched over their PC's online, radios and small televisions, What is going on? no one is working! I saw in horror and disbelief a news broadcast showing the World Trade Towers exploding and crumbling, how can this be? what is going on?. The correspondent on the broadcast frantically trying to get words out, trying to be consise but sounding panicked. It was true, and a horror to see....my first thought was "O'Allah, please don't let Islam suffer from this this". I had just converted to Islam a short 1 year before, and I was very afraid, and angry by this. How can this happen now, I do not see where this type of violence and horror is part of my religion. I believe that all that happens in this world, is by Allah's will, whether good or bad. This is one of our Faith. This horror was ment be at this time, only Allah knows why or what outcome will be. I was shaken to my bones, my stomach turned and I had butterflies as I realized that the beauty of Islam had just been tarnished and defaced by these extremists, that my security as a Muslim woman was now compromised because of this action, and how could they do this to us? I will not abandon my faith or trust that Allah will reveil His purpose someday. I could only think and contemplate this, and pray for all Muslims and believers in the divine power of God, that we will continue to strive for beauty and perfection in Islam. All the way home on the bus I looked straight ahead, feeling the stares of other passengers, knowling that they had questions for me that were unable to be expressed. I could only answer them with somber expression. I am a Muslim, by choice! Alhamdulillah, Subhanillah, Allah Akbar Sister Kireesah Seattle, WA USA Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource cair8.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2003-09-12 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 63.225.181.94 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Council on American-Islamic Relations Stories Description An account of the resource The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) is a nonprofit, grassroots civil rights and advocacy group. Since its establishment in 1994, CAIR has worked to promote a positive image of Islam and Muslims in America. This small collection represents the memoirs of CAIR members and friends related to the events and aftermath of September 11. CAIR Story CAIR Story: Story Test Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource cair1.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2003-07-01 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 129.174.27.192 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Council on American-Islamic Relations Stories Description An account of the resource The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) is a nonprofit, grassroots civil rights and advocacy group. Since its establishment in 1994, CAIR has worked to promote a positive image of Islam and Muslims in America. This small collection represents the memoirs of CAIR members and friends related to the events and aftermath of September 11. CAIR Story CAIR Story: Story Here is my eyewitness account of the destruction of the WTC on 9/11. THis story was originally published in the Tnt Mirror newspaper in Trinidad and Tobago: World Trade Center catastrophe: Muslims under siege By Fiaz Shuayb (copyright 2001) New York, Sept.12 - A loud explosion interrupted my class in logic four stories up a City University of New York (CUNY) building, two blocks away from the World Trade Centers twin towers. It was around 9 am. The boom was followed minutes after by screaming sirens coming from all directions. It jolted our concentration on diagramming of logical arguments. I shrugged off the noisy disturbance, trying to stay focused on our professor. However, one curious Latino female student somehow sensed something awry and went outside into the corridor. She ran back into the classroom seconds later, shouting that school security had ordered evacuation of the entire seven-story building. Nevertheless, nothing prepared us for the scene outside. Hundreds of students milled into the universitys compound below gasping Oh my God! Oh My God! as we stared at the horrific scene of the 110-storey high World Trade Center engulfed in a raging inferno with huge gaping holes in the uppermost floors. Everyone stood in shocked disbelief at the fiery scenario. It was a strange experience I shared with many otherswe were looking at something simply too incredible to be true, or what we were witnessing was actually happening but somehow we were not really in front of it. My first bits of news of the incident came from students in contact with others by phone or by radios. Everyone was bewildered. Some thought it was a bomb explosion; others said a couple of planes had crashed into the buildings. Several students were scared and crying, many frantically trying to call home on their cellular phones. A Ghanaian student, a Christian, found me out in the crowd: This is what America gets for supporting Israel, he whispered. Didnt you hear what [Vice-President] Dick Cheney said last week on the media? (that) the Palestinians are deserving of the type of military response from Israel. I looked at him, my face expressionless, thinking to myself that I do not see how two wrongs make a rightregardless of who was responsible for this attack. I strained my ears at other comments being offered. One student groaned: Why did this have to happen? Why cant we learn to live in peace? The question was rhetorical. We have to return to prayer and to God, another said. We witnessed in horror as at least three bodies fell from one of the burning towers some 90 stories up! Just like in the movies, it seemed. We were not sure whether they had jumped or had fallen off dead. Female students screamed and pointed to the plunging bodies. It was a calmly, gruesome scene I will never forget, which sent chills down my spine. When college security finally signaled to evacuate the area, hundreds of students linked up with thousands of people already in the streets, forming a somber exodus out of lower Manhattan, the financial center of the world with its symbols of American economic might in smoldering ruins. It was a chaotic scene for transportation as taxis and buses were few and all subway train lines leading out of Manhattan to the other boroughs completely shut down. I joined tens of thousands of people on a trek to find the nearest route out of Manhattan, to be far away from the disaster area as possible. Poring over my subway map the nearest other subway stations appeared to be along Broadway Avenue. Most people seemed headed in that direction. Merely several hundred meters away from the horrific scene when suddenly we heard a terrific sound and felt a tremor, looking back to see one tower come crashing down in a stupendous cloud of dust and rubble. Just like in the movies, it seemedan action scene straight out of Independence Day when aliens blew up the Empire State building in New York. Pandemonium reigned for a few minutes as people ran literally for their lives on the sidewalks as well as in the middle of the road oblivious to oncoming traffic, speeding ambulances and police cars. My heart skipped some beats, my mouth parched, and my legs, which seemed to have a mind of its own, felt heavy and refused to run fast enough. This was real life imitating art. However, for the most part, people on the move never became a mob, or a stampede, or a frenetic crowd, which might have led to quite a few people being trampled to death under the thicket of such a crowd. I found that calmness amazing, remembering my own experience of the 1990 coup attempt in Port of Spain and how quickly segments of the Trini citizenry had converted into looting hordes, wreaking havoc to businesses. Perhaps New Yorkers were in denial; perhaps the reality had not struck home; perhaps it was just like in the movies, it seemed. Further along Broadway, commercial life of New York went on unfazed. Consumers were piled into restaurants, shopping, or standing in the streets looking toward the direction of thick, gray smoke billowing from where the famous World Trade Center used to be. For several miles along the street, all of the subway stations remained shut. Some people hanged around hoping it would reopen soon but most continued on to Grand Central Station, one of the main transit subway centers. It was the same situation there--no trains available--at least for commuters heading out to Brooklyn and Queens. I met a college colleague there, a part-time pilot, who told me he saw how it all happened. I was at Battery Park, Stuversant, when suddenly I heard the sound of an airplane and saw what looked liked a DC 10 plane flying very low; then I saw it smash into one of the World Trade Center building and burst into a huge ball of flame, he said. The crowd near me also saw the explosion and started running in that direction to get a closer view. The ground shook and many people were in tears. Then we saw another plane crashed into the other tower and, as we watched, we saw some 13 people falling off from the tower…it was incredible but my main concern now is how to get out of Manhattan. It was 11 am. After asking around it appeared the only and easiest route to Queens would be across the long Queensborough bridge and from there, hopefully some of the lines or buses would be running. It was a spectacle to see the march of so many people from so many different walks of life trudge along the long suspended bridge in stifling midday heat. If there were any anger, resentment, or hatred for any group identified with the perpetratorsguilt by association--they were muttered under the breath or were the last thing on peoples minds. People seemed preoccupied with the arduous task of getting home presumably, where it is safer. I reached home at 4pm, tired, hungry, with a splitting headache but grateful to Allah for bringing us home safely. As events unfolded during the rest of the day, and the biggest question on the nations mind is who did this or was behind it, fears quickly arose in the Muslim community about the strong possibility of vengeance against them out of anger, hatred, and prejudice. An early press release, a couple of hours after the tragedy, by the Council of American Islamic Relations (CAIR), a prominent Islamic advocacy, reported several threats already received by Muslims and advised the community to keep a low profile. These reports were confirmed by the New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/12/nyregion/12RELA.html). The release condemned the attack in strong language and urged Muslims to identify with the pain and suffering of the nation by donating blood and other offers of assistance. In the first few days following the 1995 attack on the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma, Muslims reported more than 200 incidents of harassment, threats, and actual violence. The culprit then turned out to be Timothy McVeigh. Sensitive to negative stereotyping of Muslim groups, New York leaders moved swiftly to warn citizens and residents not to translate their understandable anger into vengeance against other minority groups based on religion or ethnicity as a scapegoat for the action of terrorists. The Governor of New York George Pataki urged people to respect the rights of each other and convert their anger into positive action in returning normalcy to life. Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani announced at a press briefing that the Muslim community was assured of extra protection and that anyone found trying to take the law into his hands would be arrested. As a precaution against possible reprisal attacks, the giant K-Mart pulled all guns and weapons from sale throughout its chain of stores nationwide. At the time of writing, a Muslim female was reportedly shot in Flushing, Queens, another stabbed, and several Islamic websites shut down due to hate e-mails. I watched the headline news on television and the Internet blare chilling headlines, such as It is undoubtedly the worst peacetime attack, ever, on a single nation, and the largest-scale terrorist attack in history spread through the world, to name a few. They were not exaggerating. I was there. This day changed the world forever. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource cair4.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2003-09-11 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 172.140.202.242 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Council on American-Islamic Relations Stories Description An account of the resource The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) is a nonprofit, grassroots civil rights and advocacy group. Since its establishment in 1994, CAIR has worked to promote a positive image of Islam and Muslims in America. This small collection represents the memoirs of CAIR members and friends related to the events and aftermath of September 11. CAIR Story CAIR Story: Story It was just aother school day. Wake up at 6:30 and out the door by 7:30am. But instead of dropping off the kids at school and then heading back home, I was going to see my newborn nephew in the hospital who was born at 12:30am September 11, 2001. My sister-in-law was waiting for me and the baby was coming from the nursery. They had taken him to get a bath. As I waited to see this new addition to our family I glanced up and caught what I thought was a movie of a plane hitting a tall building. The sound was off so we didn't hear anything. After turning the sound up we realized it was the World Trade Center. We still thought it was a movie until the second plane hit. I completely forgot why I was there in the hospital. My nephew arrived in the room and instead of being happy to see him I was filled with fear and sadness. He was a healthy little boy brought into this world on a most unforgetable day. I had to leave him quiker than I had wanted to so I could go and retrieve my kids from their Islamic private school. My husband and I were concerned about backlash and security. My husband told me to be careful leaving the hospital and driving. I really didn't see the point for this was my city and my neighbors and Orlando was such an accepting place to be. I forget that wearing a head covering, though, makes me a target. My eyes darted down the corridor as I walked swiftly to my car. I suspected everyone would make a comment or look at me more than they ever had before. But, fortunately, my beautiful city that has been my family's home for 2 generations was more compassionate than ever. No one looked at me stranger than before; no one tried to swipe me off the road; no one seemed to even notice me anymore than they ever did. Turning into the parking lot of the school I noticed the Sherrif's office had made it there before me. I was relieved. I knew the students were safe but this added security made me feel better. My children were waiting for me but had no idea what had happened. They thought I was coming to pick them up early because someone died. They didin't realize that many people had died but it wasn't their newborn nephew. I assured them he was healthy and safe and that we were going home to be together as a family. The kids only saw a little bit of TV that day. My husband and I watched it all night. We cried. We mourned. We hurt. The next day school was closed so they could prepare any security plans. It reopened after 2 days. My husband was scared for me to go out in the community. I wasn't. This was my city and my neighbors and my friends. But I could see his pain and concern so I stayed home until the evening. The muslim community had called a town meeting to be held at the school gym. I knew I had to go. I am a volunteer to the heart and needed to help my community and nation anyway I could. My husband knew that, too. Many community members came to be together and find out what they could do to help those who had suffered. We made plans to have a blood drive. We made plans to have speakers ready for the media that would soon ascend on our school and masjid. We all agreed that this act of terrorism was horrible and we condemned it. We knew then our religion of peace was under fire. We were given tips on how to stay safe in the event of serious backlash. Women were urged to use common sense when going out and urged to not stay at home and be scared. They were urged to go out and do their shopping, take their kids to school, go to their friend's house for coffee. Whatever their normal routine was they could do with just a bit of common sense. Students were urged to continue to attend classes even though many young ladies wore a headcover. They were urged to contact their administrators. Unfortunately, this town meeting was picked up by some local radio talk show hosts and condemned as being a party and celebration. Those in attendance couldn't believe this rhetoric and knew it was far from a happy party. We all cried together and made plans to help. There was no cause for celebration as we saw our nation in pain. Our community received hundreds of emails, letters, and phone calls offering prayers, and help. Some offered their guard dogs and to take women who were scared to the grocery store and to be a body guard. No major vandalism was reported except for minor grafitti written across a door. My city, Orlando the Beautiful, proved to be the loving, accepting community that it always had been. I am a second generation Floridian of Irish descent. I converted to Islam 12 years ago. I am a woman who wears a hijab (headscarf) proudly and unwaveringly. My background is in education and my goal is to educate all to learn to not just tolerate those of other faiths but accept their choice and freedom to practice. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource cair5.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2003-09-11 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 24.95.250.65 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Service Employees International Union Stories Description An account of the resource Among the thousands directly affected by the attacks were members of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) who worked at or near the World Trade Center and Pentagon as janitors, porters, security guards, public employees, building engineers, emergency medical technicians, and firefighters. In the days and weeks that followed the tragedy, several recounted their stories -- how they escaped the buildings, how they helped others to safety, and how they struggle with grief, emotional difficulties, and financial hardship. This collection contains more than fifty of these stories. SEIU Story SEIU Story: Story My cousin is a firefighter, my father is a retired police officer, my sister is a federal worker, and I am a state employee. This incident could have easily happened to mi familia. <P>On Tuesday, I was returning from beautiful San Luis Obispo when I turned on the TV in my hotel room to hear the news of the day while I was getting dressed. When I saw what happened, my first thought was 'what third world country WAS attacked by terrorists' ... then I realized it was New York City. I realized at the moment ALL our lives have been changed forever by this cowardly act. <P>All week long two televisions has been turned on at work to let us know what's going on. My first thought was of the Port Authority men and women whom I met last year at the SEIU Convention in Pittsburgh -- names I have forgotten but whose generosity to my local have made a mark on my heart. <P>All week long I have been telling my co-workers that WE have family in that building, and of the generosity of other SEIU locals to us ... and that now is our time to give back in a BIG way. <P>And now with the update to the SEIU website, I see we have more family members involved. Words cannot express my sadness, but I know my action will. I am reminded of a slogan used by Andy Stern: 'Pray for the dead, fight for the living.' I pray each day for the souls of all those union brothers and sisters who showed me (and my local) kindness and support through the years ... and I fight for the living, their families. <P>Personally, I will be contributing financially and will be forwarding the e-mail send from Andy to all my co-workers. I will be asking our members (and non-members) to reach VERY deep into their pockets to contribute as well. To think of the lost, of a mother, father, brother, sister, and friend -- how can we not act? <P>Personally, I will be forwarding a check for $100 to you by the end of the work day because the great family of SEIU is in need, and how could I do anything less? SEIU Story: Local Union 1000 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource seiu33.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Original Name The original name of this item. NULL Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2001-09-27 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Service Employees International Union Stories Description An account of the resource Among the thousands directly affected by the attacks were members of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) who worked at or near the World Trade Center and Pentagon as janitors, porters, security guards, public employees, building engineers, emergency medical technicians, and firefighters. In the days and weeks that followed the tragedy, several recounted their stories -- how they escaped the buildings, how they helped others to safety, and how they struggle with grief, emotional difficulties, and financial hardship. This collection contains more than fifty of these stories. SEIU Story SEIU Story: Story I work at SEIU Headquarters in DC, but I was at a conference in NYC on the day of the attacks. I felt the hurt and sadness all around me in the city for the day and a half that I was stranded there. It was as tangible as the chemical smell in the air. I came home to DC by train, as the airports were all still closed. Many people in Penn Station voiced concern over the lack of security there in the chaotic crush of people trying to leave the city. Sure enough, our train was halted for a bomb scare as we approached Newark. One thing that became very clear to me, is that we cannot 'police' our way to peace either at home or abroad. The freedom we cherish can only be achieved with a basic level of good will. No amount of police presence could 'secure' Penn Station or most of the public spaces we travel through each day. Our society 'works', because people feel they have something to gain and something to lose. We need to think about what it is that drove the terrorists to such acts of desperation. True Peace is not merely the absence of violence, but the presence of Justice. SEIU Story: Local Union Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource seiu32.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Original Name The original name of this item. NULL Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2001-09-27 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Service Employees International Union Stories Description An account of the resource Among the thousands directly affected by the attacks were members of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) who worked at or near the World Trade Center and Pentagon as janitors, porters, security guards, public employees, building engineers, emergency medical technicians, and firefighters. In the days and weeks that followed the tragedy, several recounted their stories -- how they escaped the buildings, how they helped others to safety, and how they struggle with grief, emotional difficulties, and financial hardship. This collection contains more than fifty of these stories. SEIU Story SEIU Story: Story SEIU Local 800 <P>Brother Stern, <P>Following the terrible acts of violence against the United States of America, we, Local 800, are filled with consternation and want to assure our support to you and to all of the SEIU members and their families. <P>We are truely sad and want to let you know that we are ready to help in any way possible in order to surpass this terrible tragedy. We, Local 800 as a whole, assure you that our thoughts are with you and please recieve our deepest sympathies. <P>In solidarity, <P>Raymond Larcher, President <P>Huguette Gaudreault, Secretary-treasurer <P>Alain Brisson, Secretary-correspondent SEIU Story: Local Union Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource seiu21.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Original Name The original name of this item. NULL Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2001-10-03