September 11th--Meg Holohan

DanHolohan

showing New York that you care. You've all been so supportive of me in my fundraising efforts, and as the event gets closer, I just wanted to thank you again for all of your help.

I just want to share with you some stories from the 9/11 Memorial. On September 11th, New York Cares volunteers worked with the mayor's office to staff the Memorial at Ground Zero. We got there around 4:30 and I had about 40 volunteers in my group (we had about 140 in total). My group covered the west side of the site and we were helping people who were coming in off the ferries. I just had to walk around all day and make sure everyone was in a good spot to help the families. At one point, I had to walk a group of kids who were reading to the readers' tent. It was really sad because the little boy had a gold necklace on with a small frame with his dad's picture in it. They were so young and yet so strong. Initially when the memorial started (by the time it started i felt like it was the end because i had been there for so long), it was really hard, especially when you'd hear little kids saying, "and our father..." I walked around the site and it was crazy to overhear conversations between firemen about their memories of the day, talking about where there trucks had been and who they had lost. At one point, i was standing next to the son of a fireman who was talking to the chief and trying to understand why his father was there when he wasn't on duty.
After it ended, i went out to lunch to a pub down the street. I went downstairs to the bathroom and there was a woman sitting on the floor hysterical crying. Desperado was playing on the radio and when I offered her some tissues, she told me that was her husband's favorite song. I didn't know what to do, so i just started hugging her. That was the kind of day it was. On any other day, that would've been the strangest thing to do in NYC, but it just felt like it was what you had to do.
Thank you for caring about New York and for helping New York Cares continue to good work.
You are all such wonderful people.

Meg

Dave Palmer_3

you

and your friends are the "wonderful" ones. People like you and your friends are why the world keeps going even when others walk around with blinders on and don't want to get involved.Thank you for being there for others who can't be. Dave

Alan R. Mercurio

Amen Dave

Amen.


Your friend in the industry,
Alan R. Mercurio