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10 Years Later: Kentucky Baptist Relief Workers Reflect on 9/11
08/31/2011
LOUISVILLE –On Sept. 11, 2001, when Larry Koch of Taylorsville heard on his way to work at the Kentucky Baptist Convention offices that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center, he assumed a small aircraft had simply and unfortunately lost its way.
Just one day later, Koch would find himself leading a Kentucky Baptist Disaster Relief team to Manhattan, ready to help those affected by the deadliest attack on the U.S. in American history.
While the events of 9/11 are now a decade old, the memories of those connected to the tragedy are still fresh. As many churches prepare to remember the attacks in their services on Sunday, Sept. 11, some of the hundreds of Kentucky Baptists who provided relief are recalling their own experiences.
“I remember him telling me to ‘put your team on the road just as quickly as you can,’” said Koch, recalling orders he received from Mickey Caison of the Southern Baptist Convention’s North American Mission Board on Sept. 12. At that time, Koch served as disaster relief associate for the KBC.
Koch, his wife, Elaine, and 33 others were part of the first wave of Kentucky volunteers that would eventually number more than 300 over several months. The group caravanned up to New York City overnight with a kitchen unit and arrived mid-day on Sept. 13.
While Koch was never able to see Ground Zero in person, he recalled seeing “a constant smoke rising the whole time we were there.”
Most of the Kentucky volunteers served with the feeding unit, initially in an area under the Brooklyn Bridge, where they worked around the clock, cooking meals that would be trucked into Ground Zero to feed emergency workers.
Approximately 69,000 meals would be served by Kentucky Baptists during the relief effort. Several other Baptist state conventions also had disaster relief teams active for many weeks, including Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.
Lynell Holland of Bellevue Baptist Church in Owensboro was shifted to the North Carolina Baptist feeding unit team. She remembers the first time she experienced Ground Zero.
“It was heart-wrenching to see the devastation. People were heartbroken and crying,” she said. “Everything was just chaotic. People were wandering around like zombies.”
Holland, who was also able to spend time ministering to rescue workers, slept on a cot in an unoccupied prison facility along with other volunteers.
“People couldn’t believe that people from another state would give of themselves freely to do that,” she said. “To us, it was no big deal. We wished we could have done more.”
Wanda Klein of Immanuel Baptist Church in Lexington also remembers seeing Ground Zero for the first time. Klein and her late-husband, Mike, were selected for dust out work at nearby apartments.
“I was sick to my stomach,” she said. “I talked to someone who went through it, and I saw a building next to Ground Zero that leaned one foot off its bearings. It was unbelievable, and I hurt all over.”
Working with the North American Mission Board and the Red Cross, the Kleins received special clearance and equipment to remove the dust, which Klein recalls was “so thick from such a great force that it had even filtered through pages of books on the shelf.
“They were overwhelmed that we would do it for free,” she said, noting that professionals were charging between $2,500 and $3,000 for the same service. “That gave us the opportunity to share Jesus with them.
“I have fond memories of the help we did, and also of Heidi Rizzo,” said Klein, referring to a woman who accepted Christ after encountering the Kentucky Baptist team.
The volunteers met Rizzo when their operation was moved to Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn. Rizzo was a nighttime security guard there and one night asked permission for her children to meet the team.
“Mike asked her why, and Heidi told Mike, ‘I feel so good and different when I’m around you, and I want my children to see it too,’” Klein said.
Recalling her husband’s reaction, Klein said he grabbed a Bible and shared Christ with Rizzo, telling her that “we have Jesus in our hearts. That’s why we’re here, and that’s why we do what we do.”
Rizzo’s salvation was also a highlight for Harold Moore of Rose Hill Baptist Church in Ashland, who believes Southern Baptists were able to make a deep impact by their efforts.
“It was a good opportunity for people to witness and serve the Lord. Even if they didn’t get to talk to anyone, they were making an impact indirectly,” he said.
Moore served for 23 days in New York City and was involved in disaster relief for more than 20 years.
Unlike Moore, Ed Meadows of First Baptist Church in Cannonsburg had not previously been involved in disaster relief when he saw the events of 9/11 unfolding on television.
“I just knew I had to go up there,” he said. “When I saw the second plane hit, I felt called to go.”
Meadows worked in the kitchen unit and handed out Gideon Bibles to anyone walking by Ground Zero.
“I was able to witness to two police officers and felt that those were the two people I was supposed to reach,” he said. “Another highlight for me was watching (Baptist pastor) Jay Adkins stand on a light pole and read the whole book of Psalms aloud.”
Roger Taylor, pastor of Aberdeen Baptist Church in Morgantown, was granted special clearance to serve as a chaplain at Ground Zero and at Pier 94, a facility dedicated to helping families of victims at no cost.
“The Lord just opened the right door for me,” Taylor said. “He meant for me to do that work, and I felt I had the opportunity to represent the Lord and Southern Baptists. When people would hear my southern accent, they would ask why I was there. I would get to explain why I was serving.”
Taylor remembers being in awe at the number of people seeking help at Pier 94, as well as the outpouring of help at the local and national level.
According to Taylor, city officials called for the construction of the Pier 94 Family Assistance Center in the aftermath of the tragedy. A host of clergy, psychologists, attorneys and social workers gathered there to provide assistance to those whose loved ones had been killed.
“Thousands of people gathered daily to receive help, and everybody was helping each other. The people of our nation really came together,” he said.
Terry Delk of Bellevue Baptist Church in Owensboro also spent time with rescue workers. Delk received special clearance to go inside Ground Zero’s fence and distribute snacks.
“It was a very solemn place. They were always thankful, but everyone was pretty grim,” he said. “I can remember taking boxes to people digging in the rubble, still in hopes of finding someone. Unless they had to, they just weren’t taking breaks.”
Even as the 9/11 tragedy and aftermath weighed heavily on them, providing relief was often therapeutic for the volunteers.
“It was sad; it was hard; the hours were long, but you felt like you were really helping people,” Klein said.
“When we left New York City and were heading out, I got my first glimpse of the Statue of Liberty,” Taylor said. “I remember leaving that city thinking about the liberty we have to worship and live.”
Kentucky Baptist Disaster Relief is supported by Kentucky Baptists’ gifts through the Cooperative Program and direct support from individuals and churches.
Legacy giving opportunities are available to ensure that Kentucky Baptist Disaster Relief can provide Christ-centered help to coming generations. For details, contact the Kentucky Baptist Foundation at (502) 489-3533 or (866) 489-3533 (toll-free in Kentucky).
Through Kentucky Baptist Disaster Relief, more than 7,000 individuals have been trained to respond to natural and man-made crises with an array of services. Feeding units can provide thousands of meals on short notice. Volunteers in other units can move in with chainsaws to remove debris, remove mud from flooded homes and provide other assistance.
For more information on Kentucky Baptist Disaster Relief, visit www.kybaptist.org/dr or become a fan of Kentucky Baptist Disaster Relief on Facebook.
Kentucky Baptists are part of a larger network of Southern Baptist volunteers that comprise the third largest relief organization in the United States.
The Kentucky Baptist Convention is a cooperative missions and ministry organization made up of nearly 2.400 autonomous Baptist churches in Kentucky. A variety of state and worldwide ministries are coordinated through its administrative offices in Louisville, including: missions work, disaster relief, ministry training and support, church development, evangelism and more. For more, find us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.
by Kristie Randolph, KBC Communications
