A Day of Terror, A Lifetime of Recovery
A Washington, D.C. paralegal shares her Sept. 11
volunteer experience.
By Lori Thompson
January/February 2002 IssueLike everyone else, Sept. 11 was a day that changed my life forever. I
went to work early, arriving at 6 a.m., and parked near the White House. With a long list
of tasks to complete by the end of the day, I brought in several CDs and my headphones so
I could block out the noise once people started arriving about 8:30 a.m.
The activity in the hallways became gradually louder and
my co-workers were actively moving in and out of offices. Frustrated with the increasing
noise, I finally removed my headphones and walked into an attorney’s office for a
break. She was watching CNN on our new IPTV software and we watched in horror as CNN
reported on what had taken place in New York City. Another attorney ran in and reported
that he had been upstairs on the balcony outside and seen the smoke bellowing from the
Pentagon. About the same time, a newly arrived co-worker reported watching the employees
at the White House being evacuated. We moved to another part of our building and could see
the increased police and Secret Service activity on 17th Street. We were all trying to
speculate about what could have happened at the White House to cause the evacuation. Then
at 10:20 a.m., we were told to evacuate the building immediately.
I live between National Airport and the Pentagon and
wondered how I would get home as the news reported the closing of almost every street that
I could use. A commute that usually takes 20 to 30 minutes took over three hours. The full
impact of what had happened didn’t hit me until I started to drive South on Glebe
Road from Arlington, Va. Traffic was at a stand still as many drivers were standing near
their cars. I watched in disbelief as ambulance after ambulance tried to work their way
from the Pentagon, across Glebe Road, and on to the Northern Virginia hospitals. No one
was shouting or honking their car horns in frustration at the lack of movement. Black
smoke could be clearly viewed above the Pentagon. Drivers around me were crying. Everyone
had their radio stations tuned to the local news and we were all hoping that what we saw
and heard was not real. When I finally arrived home, several of my neighbors were talking
in the parking lot and we drove to a local hospital and give blood. We organized a caravan
of over 20 people and were lucky to be among the first arrivals. We all waited until
everyone had given blood and then made the return drive home.
Reaching Out
I returned to work the next day, but like many of my co-workers, I
couldn’t focus on anything that had been important prior to the events of Sept. 11. I
had worked to organize pro bono opportunities for local paralegals for more than
eight years and I wanted to help. I made telephone calls to get details about local
volunteer needs. Reaching anyone by telephone was extremely frustrating and telephone
lines rang busy for hours. I was flooded with e-mails from local government paralegals and
members of my pro bono committee requesting information about how they could get
involved. Like me, everyone wanted to help, but had no idea what to do.
The hours seemed to go by quickly and being surrounded by
people was extremely helpful. Time at home was quiet. I was focused on watching the news
and hoping that my four friends had somehow survived the devastation at the Pentagon. In
times of local and national tragedy, it’s difficult for the average person without
medical training or other rescue skills to find an outlet for grief. By Thursday night, I
could no longer stay home watching the news and worrying about my friends. I made my way
to a local hotel being used by the Red Cross and volunteered my services. There were
people everywhere and we made sandwiches, packing boxed lunches and packing breakfast
items. The American flag was proudly affixed to the outside packaging and volunteers
transported the food to the respite centers, soon to be named "Camp Unity," that
included self-contained canteen kitchens that provided approximately 200 meals an hour and
other refreshments to recovery personnel.
Nothing that had been shown in the news did justice to
the actual scene. The rescue workers were covered in soot and looked exhausted. All the
volunteers took time to talk and provide comfort to the rescue workers. The experience was
heartbreaking and telling anyone that it would be "all right" seemed so trivial.
It was comforting to have so many people willing to openly show their emotions without
fear of what someone might think. By the time many of the volunteers left the site, the
sun began to rise. Unfortunately, it was hard to believe a new day was beginning when the
sky was still painted with black smoke.
I couldn’t turn the radio on in my car as I drove
from Arlington to Alexandria and drove home in silence. I had less than two hours to get
home and report for work, but my thoughts were with the rescue workers and volunteers at
the site. Everything else seemed to be a waste of time and energy.
Several of my friends met on Sept. 19 to enter the
apartment of two missing friends who worked at the Pentagon to collect DNA samples. Later
that evening, we gathered at the public memorial near the Pentagon where we left flowers
for our missing friends. The view of what had been an empty hill near a local cemetery was
overwhelming. Local citizens left flowers, cards, poems, flags, and personal items in
memory of those who had lost their lives just a short distance away. Reading the poems and
looking at the personal items left behind was painful. I remember a photograph of a pretty
blonde woman that was taped to a case of diet coke. Photograph after photograph quickly
brought the tragedy close to home. The news had first reported the possibility of 800
people being killed at the Pentagon. Even as the total loss of life decreased
significantly, the loss of even one life was substantial.
Press On
I met so many amazing people during what I have called my four weeks of
volunteer frenzy. I was not spending much time sleeping; I spent my days helping the
Salvation Army and my nights volunteering at the Red Cross. I reported to the Salvation
Army warehouse on Friday, Sept. 21 and offered my services. I had no idea what I was
walking into and hoped that they would not turn me away.
Sue greeted me and I was under the impression that she
was a seasoned Salvation Army employee. She was responsible for volunteer orientation and
had answers for every question raised. I soon found out Sue was just another volunteer who
had made the decision to show up and offer her services. She had moved to Washington, D.C.
from Wisconsin and had only been in the area for three weeks. She and her husband had made
the decision to park near the Pentagon and go sight seeing in on Sept. 11.
Sue asked me to take over the command center, which
included being responsible for the phones, requests from the Pentagon, and other
communication tasks. Thousands of pounds of dog food and other items had been donated for
the rescue dogs working at the Pentagon site. The dogs didn’t eat commercial food and
I quickly became the expert in dog food distribution. Several volunteers made a list of
the local animal shelters and proceeded to contact organizations that would benefit from
such an outpouring of pet supplies.
Robin was another volunteer that just happened to be
driving by the Pentagon when the plane hit. In what she describes as a total panic, she
abandoned her car and jumped into a ditch to hide. Another motorist stopped to pick her up
and several other pedestrians to get them out of the area. She was one of many motorists
that had abandoned their vehicles and she had to wait several days for the FBI to contact
her about retrieving her car. She soon took over the massive organization of supplies at
the warehouse and proudly announced that she had called a meeting in "water"
because no one was organizing anything the same way. Carlos lived in Annapolis, Md., and
could no longer stay home and just watch the news. He called a friend after hearing that
the Salvation Army needed milk cartons and they stopped at almost every gas station on
their drive from Annapolis to Arlington, Va. In addition to organizing the warehouse with
sufficient trash receptacles, he took the time to load a cart with cold water, juice and
soda that he moved around to where the volunteers were working.
There are no sufficient words to describe the Salvation
Army warehouse. Local stores, community members and groups went beyond the call of duty
when asked to provide items that would help the relief efforts. Semi-truck after
semi-truck would just show up and the volunteers would have to unload the trucks, open all
boxes, and move the items to specific area for additional organization. The requests from
the Pentagon were very specific. They didn’t just call and ask for juice. They wanted
apple juice or another specific item that had to be quickly located, moved to the loading
dock, and packed onto a truck for delivery. The volunteers made this all move smoothly
thanks to their attention to detail. So many local restaurants donated food for the
volunteers, including a restaurant in Arkansas that prepared catfish for the volunteers
one evening.
After a long day with the Salvation Army that started at
7 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 22, I left the warehouse about 7:30 p.m. to report to the
Arlington Red Cross office for a 8 p.m. to midnight shift. Around midnight, most of the
Red Cross staff went home and I stayed to work with a woman who was visiting from
Australia. She was visiting friends who were asked to travel to New York City due to their
telecommunication skills. She decided to volunteer her time with the Red Cross and
encouraged me to work with her through the night. We stocked the canteen and drove the Red
Cross van to the local hotels to retrieve Red Cross staff that were assigned to the
Pentagon site. I was losing my volunteer spirit close to 7 a.m. Sunday when I realized
that I would have about 90 minutes to get home, change my clothes, and meet local
paralegals for another volunteer commitment, helping with pre-registration for the Oct. 6
AIDS Walk.
Help from the Paralegal
Community
The response from local paralegals continued to support the belief that
paralegals are a vital member of the legal community providing help to those in need. One
local paralegal helped the Red Cross by volunteering near the Pentagon City Mall to
collect donations. I am extremely grateful that so many local paralegals came forward to
help when asked. I know that providing my limited skills to the rescue effort was of great
comfort during such a difficult time that had hit so close to home. I strongly felt that
this was the least that I could do for so many rescue workers that had placed themselves
in harms way to help those in need and feel that my life has been changed forever. The
past four weeks have been focused on extreme sadness, but there were also times of great
humor. I became extremely close to 10 volunteers at the Salvation Army site who had put
their lives on hold to help the Salvation Army provide support to the rescue workers at
the Pentagon. Personally, the volunteers provided me support when I was overcome by
emotion thinking about my friends and we laughed about needing some type of volunteer
detoxification after spending so much of our time volunteering. We made a vow to offer our
services, as a group, to local organizations. I also strongly feel anyone who didn’t
get involved has missed a life changing experience. I can’t imagine my life without
the experiences since Sept. 11 and my new volunteer friends. Many of us have registered to
attend the Red Cross volunteer orientation on Oct. 20 to be trained as disaster services
specialists. We also laughed about not knowing the words to many of our national patriotic
songs. This will have to be a goal for another day. |
