By RHEA-FRANCES TETLEY
Staff Writer
Today’s students were not alive 23 years ago when the World Trade Center’s twin towers were struck by highjacked airliners in New York on September 11, 2001. The attacks were carried out by an Islamist terrorist organization, Al-Qaeda, and involved 19 hijackers.
There were two other planes that were flying that morning, poised to hit other targets. One hit the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. and the other was grounded by the passengers in the airplane in Pennsylvania on its supposed route to crash into the White House.
There were 2,977 persons who perished that day in the attacks, mobilizing many volunteers nationwide to assist in response to the disaster. Rim students sent their support to the students of New York at the time.
Crestline has a 9/11 memorial in front of Goodwin’s Market to remind us of all of that horrible event in recent history. September 11 has almost become ancient history to some students across the nation now in 2023, but many students at Rim of the World Unified School District today know teachers or relatives of teachers who spent their time going to New York after the tragedy to help families and children of those who had lost loved ones, carrying words of support from Rim students.
Sharon Gilbert and Christine Gomes, who at the time was a Special Education teacher at Charles Hoffman and Lake Arrowhead Elementary Schools, spent two weeks working at a CAIR (Childcare Airline Incident Response) facility in New York, setting up in a warehouse at Pier 94, not that far from Ground Zero, to provide care for children of victims’ families.
CAIR is a group of pre-trained volunteers which is set up under the umbrella of the Red Cross to respond and provide childcare to children of families affected by airplane incidents and crashes. Gomes received her CAIR training through the University of La Verne, with another Rim teacher, Sharon Bolton. Gomes also assisted during a plane crash in Oxnard in 2000.
A previously empty warehouse at Pier 94 was transformed into a Family Assistance Center, (FAC) where CAIR was provided with donations of cribs, toys, books and almost everything necessary to provide comfort and a feeling of security to these children of parents who needed to fill out paperwork to get official documents and death certificates for loved ones.
There was a large wall mural that Gomes had the Rim students make between the disaster and when she went to New York, after being given two weeks off by the district to make the trip. She took with her the large American Flag mural made by students from Lake Arrowhead Elementary, which had 850 student signatures and wishes of hope. She carried that flag on her lap in the airplane getting there. When she entered the facility, which was very heavy on security, she had to go through five checkpoints, so many others also got to see the mural.
The flag mural was over six feet long and was hung on the wall of the CAIR. There were also many posters made by students that were hung all over the facility.
The students also made many supportive cards, many of which were placed on the dining tables. Some who read them were so touched, they cried; others liked the messages of support so much they took them home with them.
Many families entered the FAC building crying, some still searching for missing loved ones as, at one time, there were over 6,000 missing.
The volunteers saw about 40 to 50 children each day at the center, which was open from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m.; the beds and meals provided for the children were a welcome respite for the parents while going through the paperwork required and while they signed up to get the help they needed, if they had lost their homes or jobs related to the disaster. The CAIR Center also watched the children of parents that had to go to the World Trade Center to retrieve urns of ashes of identified loved ones after their paperwork was complete.
Some of the cards of support were placed along the tables for the firefighters and police officers who came to the FAC to read while they were taking a break, and the cards brightened their spirits. The many posters Gomes brought with her were hung throughout the facility and were encouraging to the families and all who entered, letting them know they were not alone in this disaster and that students in California were wishing them a good life and recovery.
Many others came to the facility to cheer the kids, including characters from Sesame Street, therapy dogs and even Reggie Jackson came. Gomes said Jackson was extremely supportive, nice and actually seemed almost thrilled to not be recognized by her and gave her an autograph for her son, Dusty.
There were teddy bears available that had been donated by the people of Columbine who understood child trauma; the bears were given to all the kids to love and hug while going through that harrowing time.
“We provided these children with all the love and care we could,” said Gomes. She was genuinely touched when a newly single parent thanked her for caring for their children while they were experincing the worst moments of their family’s lives.
Gomes and Gilbert were changed by the experience. Over the years, Gomes has shared her experiences with her students and tried to make the disaster a real event with real people affected, as opposed to just a historical event in a book.
The memories of the children and how resilient they were impressed Gomes significantly. She hopes she was able to give those children, who are now adults, some love and that she helped them during that awful time 23 years ago, as she brought a part of Rim of the World schools to New York.
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