For most University of Memphis students, the events of Sept. 11 seem far from home. The extensive media coverage leaves the average student feeling as if they have viewed a Spielberg movie, not watched coverage of a national tragedy. Eight University of Memphis students, however, volunteered to clean up the damage surrounding Ground Zero and experienced firsthand the trauma that has come to New York.
Juniors Janna Casteel, Laura Pevahouse, Brad Holloway, former student Joel Glasgow, seniors James Hughes, Joey Tetleton, Michael Hennessy, and sophomore Catherine Barton, traveled to New York City Nov. 21-25, 2001, as part of the World Changers Dust Out 2001.
The goal of the trip was to clean up apartment buildings around Ground Zero. The apartments were filled with dust and ashes as a result of the blasts on Sept. 11.
“It wasn’t gray dust,” said Pevahouse. “It was yellowish dust that covered everything, even though the apartments had been professionally cleaned before we got there.”
The apartment buildings the students were cleaning had been evacuated since Sept. 11. Most of the residents hadn’t even returned to their homes. Dirty dishes and unmade beds had been left untouched for over two months.
Cleaning these apartments gave the students the opportunity to meet and talk with people who had survived the attacks.
“One of the apartments I was helping clean belonged to a woman with two children, who were about two and four,” Tetleton said. The lady shared with Tetleton her experience on Sept. 11. She remarked what a beautiful morning Sept. 11 was, and how everyone was out on the streets and everyone’s windows were open. Her children were looking out the window when she heard one of them yelling about a plane. They saw the first plane hit the building and ran down to the lobby where they were told there was nothing they could do. They were told it was an accident and that they were to go back to their apartment.
They went back to the apartment and were looking out the window when the second plane hit. They ran back down to the lobby, heard a lot of rumbling — and then the power went out. People were yelling that they should run. It was so dark and smoky a man ripped off his shirt and covered the children’s mouths with it. He told them to run to the banks. The woman told Tetleton that people were running and falling off the edge of the banks because they couldn’t see three feet in front of their faces.
Glasgow said he had to mentally remove himself from the situation after the trip.
“The first apartment I actually got to go in had a window facing Ground Zero, so I’m cleaning the window looking out at Ground Zero. … I just had to detach myself from what I could’ve been thinking.”
While in New York, the students stayed in a Brooklyn Naval Yard. “It was an ex-military prison,” said Casteel. “It was also in Vanilla Sky.”
The students also had the chance everyday to eat lunch with and talk to the firefighters and rescue workers from Ground Zero. According to the students, emotionalism amongst the firefighters ran high and in different directions. Some firefighters were angry and furious with everyone; others were more optimistic. The firefighters played off one another and did share one concern. The firefighters of New York City are concerned that this national surge of patriotism is temporary.
The students didn’t spend all their time cleaning apartments and talking to firefighters — they did get to do some sightseeing.
“We were on top of the Empire State Building during a thunderstorm and almost got blown off!” said Barton.
Even while sightseeing, the students could not escape the emotional gloom that has settled over the city.
“It humbled us in ways that none of us ever imagined,” Pevahouse said. “In some ways it looks just like what you see on TV, but on TV you can’t see the smell, you can’t hear what you hear when you’re there.”
“The smell even now is really bad,” said Casteel. “The summer of 1999 was my first time there, and it was everything you would expect New York to be. Hustling, bustling, you know? This time it was very different, people were just walking around in a daze. It was very different.”
The students noticed on their clean-up mission that New York City, famous for being the city that never sleeps, was quiet by 1 or 2 a.m. People are moving away from downtown, away from where the World Trade Center used to stand. Almost all of the people who had their apartments cleaned by the students are not planning on returning to their former homes.
“The badges that we wore got us a lot of attention,” said Barton. “People were surprised that we had come from Memphis to help them. They would ask me why; I would tell them it was God’s love that brought us here.”
The eight students from The U of M were among 90 participants in the World Changers Dust Out 2001. According to their Web site, World Changers is sponsored by the North American Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. The attacks on Sept. 11 gave World Changers the chance to send its volunteering youth on a hands-on mission.
“We went through our summer staff and asked them if they wanted to be involved or if they knew any groups that would want to be involved,” said Allison Rickard, 22, a semester missionary working with World Changers. “It was a-spur-of-the-moment deal. We only had about six weeks to plan everything. We usually plan for about 12 to 18 months for a project.”
In spite of its time limitations, the project was successful. World Changers rounded up 90 on-site participants from 11 states. They sent 13 crews and 26 prayer walk crews. The groups cleaned 31 apartments over Thanksgiving weekend.
“The people of New York were so emotional and so grateful that we ‘sacrificed’ our Thanksgiving weekend to come help them, but we didn’t consider it a sacrifice,” Casteel said. “We were glad to be there.”
