Public Employee Press

By Jane LaTour

On Sept. 11, as soon as the first plane hit the south tower, thousands of people rushed to volunteer their services, including many from DC 37. The heroism of the mainly blue-collar men and women who clawed barehanded at the burning rubble in a desperate search for survivors was a tribute to the human spirit.

But the story of the counselors and couriers and church women who started volunteering Day 1 at Ground Zero and kept at it for months has hardly been told. When their wounded city cried out in need, the following members of the DC 37 community were among hundreds who answered the call:

Santos Crespo, a school drug counselor and the executive vice president of Board of Education Employees Local 372, had a clear view of the first attack as he crossed the Brooklyn Bridge to Manhattan. By the time he parked at PS 89 on Warren Street, the second tower was ablaze.

The former Navy man, trained in firefighting and disaster relief, helped to evacuate first the schoolchildren and then the DC 37 building even closer to the Trade Center. Then he delivered water and supplies to rescue workers. On Sept. 12, he worked on the famed "bucket brigade" that searched the smoldering rubble for signs of life. Mr. Crespo then was enlisted to use his expertise as a counselor for the families of victims. Later he resumed his duties as a counselor in the school system, setting up trauma teams for the students and the teachers. "The bottom line was that we were in trouble and help was needed," he said.

Carmen Burgess, a union secretary for 24 years, spent her first day back at work after surgery loading supplies for rescue workers. Working out of the Iglesia Christiana Primitiva church on the Lower East Side, Ms. Burgess and her 13-year-old daughter Amanda made up individual kits of personal supplies and delivered them to a Wall Street distribution center. She did this for four days straight, until her body forced her to give up. Her first response to 9/11 was, "I have to help."

Audrey McConney, a DC 37 Rep, worked as a courier for the Red Cross, delivering paperwork and supplies to the Respite Centers, shuttling people to and from airports and hotels, picking up loads of food - whatever the job demanded. At one point, she had to drive an 18-passenger van. "It scared me out of my wits!" She worked weekends and evenings and found it to be one of the most rewarding things she's ever done.

Penny Curvin, a union Social Worker, put her Red Cross training as a Disaster Mental Health volunteer to work. From Sept. 12, Curvin volunteered at the Respite Centers for the search and rescue workers, working 12-hour shifts Friday and Sunday nights and weekends until May. Like Audrey McConney, she viewed her voluntary contributions as a form of self-therapy.

Jocelyn Smith, a MELS attorney, felt compelled to help. The tenacious lawyer stood in line for six hours to donate blood and bought fresh socks for firefighters, until a radio appeal let her contribute her professional skills in the program that obtained death certificates for grieving families. "All the attorneys had the same qualms about dealing with families at a time of great distress," she said.

Jennifer Laino, a DC 37 Health Center Dentist, counteracted her feelings of helplessness after 9/11 by making a contribution. A member of the Forensic Dental Society, Dr. Laino volunteered from September to February in the dental team that helped identify victims. "The teeth don't change and everybody has their own distinct set," she explained.