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CTyankee

(63,771 posts)
Wed Sep 11, 2019, 10:04 AM Sep 2019

Letter to me from a 9/11 first responder, dated Oct. 4, 2001.

That person is my son, who (unbeknownst to me at the time) was a first responder on 9/11).

He was writing to thank me for my cash contribution to his work as a volunteer at a relief supply station handling the overwhelming amount of contributions of supply needs from all over the country to help the rescue workers.

His work involved unloading the trucks, separating those supplies needed at Ground Zero from those which were not but could be used elsewhere.

Among those he listed: respirators, boots, hard hats, clothes, food, water, medicine, tools.

finding out where these supplies could best be used;

shipping those items directly to homeless shelters and other appropriate charities;

relocating "our original location into the official supply depot in Pier 40."

distributing needed provisions to the vehicles entering the disaster zone, and to the exhausted workers leaving the zone ("usually bottled water, Gatorade, and and first aid material -- we also cheer them on endlessly." )

He emphasized that all were volunteers, one woman coming all the way from California to help out, another had driven from Montana to do what she could.

He enclosed photos (which I cannot find but did save).

He mentioned a visit from the "Mayor's office for the first time" briefly. He didn't say Giuliani himself was there but those who were "expressed gratitude for filling a void they themselves were unable to entirely meet until recently."

My son was too circumspect to say outright that the Mayor's response was lame. He did not mention any visit by Trump (he probably wouldn't have recognized him anyway).

He took time out of his schedule as a student at Brooklyn Law School to do this. His work today with the Brooklyn DA's office still involves seeking justice, but that is for another post of mine blasting deBlasio.





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CTyankee

(63,771 posts)
2. Thank you.
Wed Sep 11, 2019, 10:32 AM
Sep 2019

His little boy looks just like him when he was that age! It's amazing.

I can't wait to tell him what a hero is daddy is...

CTyankee

(63,771 posts)
5. You'd love to talk with him. But I would have to warn you: he's a diehard Mets fan.
Wed Sep 11, 2019, 03:16 PM
Sep 2019

He plays rhythm guitar with a group that meets downtown on weekends to jam (his wife sings and she's great).

Yeah, he's the best!

H2O Man

(73,324 posts)
6. Three of my nephews
Wed Sep 11, 2019, 03:19 PM
Sep 2019

are huge Mets fans. They used to get me Mets t-shirts, which I gladly wore. Second only to the Yankees, in my book! (grin)

You've done well!

Fritz Walter

(4,281 posts)
8. As a fellow responder, please give him my best wishes. and thanks!
Wed Sep 11, 2019, 05:20 PM
Sep 2019

Especially, I wish him good health.

I worked in the Lower Manhattan “hot zone” a month after the incident. Was there for three weeks.

Please tell him to stay strong and healthy. And encourage him to take full advantage of the responder health programs in place. And to seek help (medical, psychological, financial) as need be.

He is not alone here.

CTyankee

(63,771 posts)
9. Thanks. I think since he was driving a truck with bags of ice to the responders who said that
Wed Sep 11, 2019, 05:34 PM
Sep 2019

was what they needed, he avoided a lot of the toxic fumes. I will have to ask him.

I hope you are OK.

CTyankee

(63,771 posts)
11. He was in his formative years during the Vietnam War era and I was scared to death he would
Thu Sep 12, 2019, 12:06 PM
Sep 2019

get sucked into it. He was little but I thought it absolutely necessary to get out and march against that war. I got involved in lots more protests, including for women's rights, and so he saw this idea of justice being fought for in real time. There was lots going on politically when he was growing up...

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