[an e-mail I received, source unknown]

Sent: Monday, September 17, 2001 7:07 PM
Subject: Guerilla Volunteers

Without question, the major untold story of the first week
of the disaster is the guerilla volunteers.  A small army of
private individuals, heroes, with little or no affiliation
to any official relief organization, courageously set up 9 of
the 11 distribution/feeding/triage centers in and around
ground zero*.  Without these heroes, the real heroes (the
rescue workers, firemen, police, soldiers, and clean up
crews) would have received perhaps 80% less of the essential
food, supplies, and medical care and psychological support
than they have had. Many might not have received
respirators, filter masks, protective clothing, and other
crucial safety equipment, not to mention important care, like
5 star restaurant catered food, free massages, free
immediate medical
and chiropractic care, and replacements for their worn out,
asbestos contaminated clothing and shoes.

On the Southwest side of the American Express building
complex, around the Battery Park City boat basin, a
privately organized ad hoc village has sprung up from the
ashes of destruction.  There, rescuers can find all the
comforts of civilization: food, shelter, supplies, doctors,
even massages and loving support. The outposts of this
village all have names with human faces. On the North side,
the sprawling Flea Market focusses on equipment.  Across
the basin, The General Store does the same under tents, with supplies
coming in by water. At the end of the South Pier, The Circle
Line cruise ship, The Spirit of New York, provides hot meals
catered by 5 star restaurants like Boule and Daniel (Chef
Boule's New Zealand mussels, were, reportedly, out of this
world). One can find much needed bathrooms and sleeping cots
on board as well.  St. Joe's Supply, operating out of St.
Joseph's Chapel on the South Pier, pulls in supplies via
commandeered military humvees from collection points from all
over town. On the South End of the AmEx building complex,
the Freedom Cafe provides hot meals, medical triage, 20 or
so volunteer massage therapists and chiropractors, and a
much needed place for the exhausted rescuers to rest and
blow off steam. On the dust smeared glass by the Freedom
Cafe, every fire and rescue company has scrawled the name of
their unit, and a message of hope or humor.

Every one of these outposts has been privately organized,
with virtually no affiliation to any major non-profit
organization.  Most of the volunteers who work at these
locations have been there since the beginning.  They are
exhausted, haven't slept in days, and most lack ID tags that
would give them clearance to the area because they never
left the area in the first place. Most have nothing more
than a strip of yellow duct tape on their chests, with their
names penned in. 

Grey, grizzled Captain Greg Freitas, of the yacht
Adirondack, pulled nearly 200 people off the piers within
three minutes of the collapse of the north tower.  Later he
brought in paramedic teams, by water, and then supplies.
Because no one was in charge, he was forced to organize all
the supplies coming in, and set up The General Store at the
end of the South Pier.  He has been there ever since.

It is the same kind of story all over the Hot Zone.
Flick and Elizabeth took charge of St. Joe's. Eliza, Ralph,
Sue and Rich Michah set up the The Flea Market. Elsewhere,
Gary and Patty drove in from Ohio and set up a distribution
center between the elevator banks of the AmEx building.
Kate Schmit, Karin Berenson, Kevin Kennison, Denise and
Nicole, with an army of volunteer Scientologists, set up an
amazing facility at the Peter Styvusant School, with a
supply depot, massage and chiropractic care, a gourmet
restaurant catered cafeteria, triage center, and sleeping cots.

When towers 7 and 5 collapsed on the second day, The Red
Cross pulled its operations out of the Hot Zone, keeping all
ERV's North of Chambers Street.  The Salvation Army was a
bit bolder, with a forward feeding station at West and
Vessey.  But only the guerilla volunteers were bold enough
to stay in or around the AmEx building, at the heart of
things, right were they could do the most good for the
exhausted rescuers.

At PS 234, south of Chambers on Greenwich, a rogue Red Cross
volunteer ignored the order to pull back.  William X, as he
will be called, took a small abandoned public school, with
no power or water, and turned it full scale support
facility, with triage center, hot meals, supply depot,
saline eye wash station, sleeping cots and chiropractic
care, not to mention power, water and working restrooms. The
school custodian cleaned out all the dust and debris, and
the cafeteria is now cleaned down every hour.  The police
and OEM supplied William with filter masks, hard hats and
anything else he needed.  Thousands of rescue workers stream
past this particular supply center every day.  Because of
William, they were all outfitted with the best available
safety gear, which they would not have had otherwise.  The
official channels provided too few respirator stations in
locations that were hard to find.  Without William, many of
these men would have gone into ground zero with inadequate
paper masks, or no masks at all.  The Red Cross only began
to recognize his existence and support his efforts late on
day three, by which time he had already developed his own
supply network. 

My friend Tom worked there with William from the afternoon
of Day 3 until the evening of Day 5.  When I joined them on
Day 4, William had not slept for four days, but had just
restored running water. On Day 5, FEMA shut down the triage
center, saying that it was not authorized.  The Red Cross
prevented William from bringing in further supplies that did
not come from Red Cross HQ, because that is policy (never
mind the RCHQ does not have filter masks, hard hats, or
anything else the workers really need.)  When I left the
site in the wee hours of Day 7, I spoke with a senior Red
Cross officer, who smugly speculated that the Red Cross
might have William arrested for impersonating the Red Cross.

At 6 AM this morning, security was tightened on the site.
Some of the guerilla volunteers, I hear, are currently being
arrested and thrown out of the hot zone because they do not
have the correct ID. Tighter security is a good thing from
some perspectives, but that will put these vital guerilla
support operations in jeopardy. I heard about one guerilla
volunteer was ejected, who could not get back in, who went to
Jersey City and SWAM across New York harbor so he could keep
volunteering at the Flea Market. He climbed up the pier,
asked for dry clothes, and was working again in 15 minutes.

I hear the mayor's office is threatening to kick out the
massage therapists from Styvusant (which is just outside of
the hot zone and on city property) on the theory that the
massage stuff is not really needed. If there is one thing
which is hugely helpful, it is massage.  These guys are
exhausted and beat up from working in the pit or on the
pile.  If anyone really needs a massage, it is these guys.
And they need the caring, the compassion and the touch.
Clearly, this kind of thing means a HUGE deal to the guys --
you should see them eating it up, the physical attention
from the gorgeous massage babes -- some of whom have come
from all over the country to do this.  It keeps them going,
it really lifts their spirits. I saw a fireman come in who
was devastated: he had just found a dead baby who was still
wrapped in his mother's arms; the rest of the mother was
missing.  He wanted a massage.  The person on the table just
gave it up to him in a heartbeat.

The Guerilla support operations may be over.  I don't know.
They need ID tags, maybe official sponsorship from the
Salvation Army or Red Cross or somebody.  What is worrisome
to me is that the Red Cross and Salvation Army, the two
official FEMA sanctioned disaster relief organizations, both
seem ill equipped to provide the kind of flexible support
that is needed in this disaster.  Both have rule books,
which seem to lack pages about supplying asbestos filter
masks, and steel toed boots, or running supply depots, or
organizing restaurant catered food, or scavenging for
urgently needed supplies.  From the inside, I have to say
the Red Cross seems timid, inflexible, disorganized, plagued
by poor communications and redundant management, and
unprepared to provide the help that is needed where it is
needed most. God bless them, they are all salt of the earth,
good people, but if it isn't what they are used to doing
(providing bland food and minimal shelter) they won't
stretch to do it.  Better to send in even the
Scientologists, who don't have a rule book and are ready to
respond to whatever conditions they find -- as they have
done since the beginning, wacko's tho' the may be.  They
certainly deserve credit for helping to man and organize the
food tables at the Freedom Cafe and Styvusant.

Anyway, regardless of what happens from here on out, the
folks mentioned herein are real heroes.  They deserve medals
for what they have done.  I'm sorry to see FEMA and
officialdom treating them so badly and doing so little to
incorporate them into the ongoing effort. It was a privilege
to be able to witness what they have accomplished, and
record it so it will not be forgotten.

Rod


*Of the eleven major support outposts in the Hot Zone, 6 are
entirely organized by guerilla volunteers, 1 is run by a
rogue Red Cross volunteer without official Red Cross
sanction, and one is privately organized, but has some rogue
Salvation Army and Red Cross volunteers on site.  The
Salvation Army has one official food truck near ground Zero,
and the Fire Department has a supply depot in the American
Express building.