E-Mail to Friends
Last night I took three of my counselors and we worked at The Salvation Army Florida Kitchen from 6PM-2AM (Fred was
unable to make this trip as planned due to work). This is a mobile kitchen and a tent that can serve 1000 meals an hour. I
think we did at times! There are about 100 seats, and people came and went.
The tent serves all manner of workers in and around the area. There were a lot of Verizon and Lucent Technologies workers
who are attempting to re-establish phone lines in the area. All of the buildings surrounding the pit were lit up as if occupied,
and we were told that they were being checked structurally.
For the first part of the evening I was handing out drinks from about 10 big fishing sized coolers. What the vast majority of the
workers were asking for was a drink called Red Bull that I had never seen before. This comes in a small thin can, and the
workers call it "Crack in a Can"! Apparently it has the caffeine of about 4 cups of coffee, and I'm not sure what all else. But it
sure perks them up. I was loath to try it, but at 2AM when we began the 2 hour drive home I drank one. If my companions had
any delusions of dozing on the drive home their hopes must have been dashed, because I chattered incessantly at them the
whole way home.
We were to tour The Red Zone tonight, and we were all somewhat anxious. We were working with a team of Salvation Army
officers from Newfoundland, and "Captain Terry" was our driver. It was quite cold and extremely windy. When we grabbed hard
hats and jumped on a golf cart, we literally had to hang on to our hats. Our station tent was only one block from the pit, and it
took but a moment to pull up right next to the debris. What an indescribable sight!
The operators of the huge cranes were not working due to the wind, although other machines were working. The crane
workers are part of the Ironworkers union, the biggest labor union in New York. Three of them walked over and asked the
question that we hear repeated over and over, "So where are you from?" Amazingly, one of the workers had connections to
Newfoundland.
A young ironworker named Doug offered to show us around. We walked across packed earth to what we thought was the
edge of the debris, and we were astonished when he said that we were standing pretty much where the huge lobby of the
North Tower had been, and we were looking at a bank of four elevators. We had not walked across earth but the tightly packed
pulverized concrete. He pointed out to us the details of the tower and surrounding structures, and the steel beams of the
central core of the Tower were about 20 feet in front of us. The one remaining wall of the outside structure looks like it was at
ground level, but Doug guesstimated that it was maybe the thirtieth floor or so. This wall is leaning on the building behind it.
Directly across the street, many stories up, he pointed out a structural piece about 6 stories long, imbedded in the 3 World
Financial Center building. Three stories protrude from the building, three stories are inside the building. He described
standing outside (up there!) soldering this piece to the building as it was in danger of falling. Amazingly, this building may be
declared structurally sound. He pointed across to the Millennium Hotel building and we were able to see that the building is
leaning a bit. The still-standing burned out hull of 5 World Trade Center is now the most remarkable edifice there.
We were also able to confirm and see the two crossed pieces of steel which formed a perfect cross shape and is erected on
top of a construction trailer now.
We watched as the equipment operators scooped up packed debris, shook it to loosen it and dropped it. It is then loaded on
trucks and taken to a site in New Jersey or Staten Island to be searched, and it is often there that DNA material sources can
be identified.
Doug believes that 500 or so bodies (bones only) are going to be recovered from one of the basement levels of the South
Tower shortly. He pointed across the way and we were able to see workers trying to shore up the underground structure to
make it safe for the workers to attempt to retrieve the bodies. More about Doug later; he is an amazing guy. We really lost
track of time, but I believe we spent somewhere close to an hour with him there.
The smell down there is quite acrid, smelling of chemicals, the magnesium used to blowtorch the huge steel beams, and
burning plastic. The fires still rage underground at incredible temperatures, and they have pulled up steel beams glowing
red-hot. Smoke continues to pour from the ground, at times literally right beneath our feet. We had not expected to be that
close, and had not been prepared with goggles and face masks. We should have! Ash and debris flew close by.
We visited the Red Cross Respite Center set up in a St. John's University building across the street from the Florida kitchen,
and had a professional eye wash there. We had to step into wash basins to rinse off our shoes before entering. There are all
sorts of services for the workers there.
We met several workers who had lost loved ones, including a cop who lost his brother and a pastor with young children who
lost both his wife and his sister who is now serving as a chaplain. We talked with workers who had witnessed horrendous
sights. A group from Harvest Ministries came through with literature, and we met a pastor from a church in Seattle who
brought in a team to help out.
At the end of our tour a meeting was called. We were thanked for our work, and a picture of the Newfoundland group was
taken, as they will be heading for home and a new team of Canadians will be coming in. We were reminded that the site
would be shut down Sunday for a memorial service for the families at the site. Captain Barry then led the team in a prayer of
thanksgiving and intercession.
As we left, my minivan was decontaminated, sprayed down including the undercarriage. We were reminded to wash all of our
clothes and get right in the shower when we got home. I fell into bed at 5 AM. Of course life goes on, so I got up much too
soon, went to get the girls at the sitter's house, and went on to the usual routine of ballet class and Brownies. My throat and
eyes are scratchy, and the smell lingers. It is time for a nap!
I'll try to get up in time to go to Saturday PM church service, as we will be at Pier 94 all day Sunday. We are expecting that not
many families will be there due to the memorial, but the work with the displaced workers goes on.
Love!
Cheryl
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