Extracts from a Letter to Employees, Officers and Leaders of The Salvation Army

Many of you have been praying for the victims of the disaster in New York City, as I have, and some have asked for more information about what The Salvation Army is doing in this great tragedy.

One of the most vivid pictures in my mind is that of Major Molly Shotberger with other officers, helping tired firemen at our forward most canteen near Ground Zero where firemen appear out of the rubble covered with ash and grime. The Salvation Army officers help him take off his dirty boots, strip off his wet socks, wash and powder his feet, put on clean socks, put the dirty boots back on his feet, and send him back to search in the rubble, having been touched by the love and caring in this most humble and practical way.

Major Cheryl Miller and others served at the temporary morgue with specialized grief counselors. To talk and pray with a family whose loved one has just been identified, while trying to cooperate with the FBI, Medical Examiner's Office, NYC Police, and FAA investigators, takes persistence, patience, and real spiritual commitment. At the end of one difficult day, Cheryl wrote: "Other than the cops, doctors, nurses, and medical examiners, we were the only ones allowed to go right down where the bodies were being taken from the truck and being examined. I was standing next to a cop, and we were watching them take a body bag off the truck. Rather than take the bag into the protected room, they put the bag on a gurney and started to unzip the bag right there. I could only recognize a charred arm. The rest of the contents were beyond recognition. The cop said, 'Yah.' He said, 'Are you alright?' I said, 'Yah.' Neither of us looked at each other during that small conversation. I turned to him, and he just stood shaking his head in disbelief. He stood for a few more minutes, and then he went back to work. I touched his shoulder as he walked away to let him know I would pray for him."

We took all cadets out of class…and put them on three shifts around the clock to man 20 canteens spread over the area from 14th street to Wall Street. We were on duty by 2:30 p.m. on the very day the disaster happened. This is a real testimony to rapid cooperation between Major Carl Schoch and the NYC Divisional staff, Major Mark Tilsley and The Salvation Army College for Officer Training, and the many outlying corps officers who fired up their canteens and drove them to pick up assigned crews of cadets to get into the city so quickly.

In addition to grief counseling and financial assistance for the 2000 New Jersey survivor families, The Salvation Army in New Jersey also opened Camp Tecumseh, complete with chef, to feed and sleep, many of the volunteers who came to help us in New York City. The New Jersey Transit Company provided free buses to take the volunteers back to camp every night and out to the city every morning.

Mr. Lindsay Evans and Major Gary Miller at Territorial Headquarters have been working non-stop behind the scenes to support the NYC Division recovery effort. They secured a giant warehouse on the Bayonne docks, but then two semi-trailers arrived from Tennessee filled with loose donations not on pallets. The warehouse foreman called Lindsay. "What should we do? We just have forklift operators here. I don't have anybody who can unpack a truck of loose items. And there are seven more trucks just like this one on their way," he said. Lindsay and Gary found another warehouse that could take those nine trucks and now the warehouse in Bayonne has a large team of Salvation Army volunteers who can unload, organize and repack just about anything.

Our main warehouse at the JFK airport is mostly staffed by professional warehouse employees from Walmart. They are doing a great job and we are very grateful for their contribution to this massive effort.

I observed this dialogue between Captain Allen Hausner and a neatly dressed young Muslim man who had worked at the Windows of the World restaurant in the World Trade Center. He asked Captain Hausner "Can you help me?" He had been to all the other agencies and couldn't get any help for at least a month. They had sent him to us. One of our young women student social workers sat this man down, with a gentle smile and helped him complete all the forms so that all his emergency financial needs could be met. The healing of his soul, in grief over the many friends he has lost, will take much longer…

The social worker at our Bay Ridge Corps in Brooklyn is providing food for Arab women who are afraid to shop for groceries during this time of tension.

The Worth Street Center will continue to serve hundreds of families each day for at least the next two months and may be open as long as six months.

I have written a $14 million draft plan for follow-up services just for the children of survivor families. It probably does not go far enough by half. And there are other needs as well. I will appreciate your prayers.

God bless each of you. Please continue to pray for the victims, survivors, and all of our Salvation Army personnel who are serving during this critical time.

Major John Cheydleur, PhD., ACSW
Territorial Social Services Secretary
Eastern Territory, USA