New York City and Ground Zero Trip - December 16 - 22, 2001 by: Heather Peacock

"Food Expediter" at Nino's Restaurant.
"Chow Line Server" and "Bus Girl" at St. Joseph's Church at Ground Zero.
"Personal Shopper" at The Lamb's.
"Toy Delivery Truck Unloader" and "Toy Stocker" until 2 am at The Lamb's.
"Christmas Resource Center Counselor" at The Lamb's.
"Christian Evangelist" at The Lamb's.

These titles are some that I wore during our week in NYC. From day to day, and sometimes even from minute to minute, we did not know where we would be serving or what we would be doing.

At Nino's and St. Joseph's I learned how to expertly handle chafing dishes and sterno cans, however, I never did master the art of keeping my food server's hat perched properly on my head. At The Lamb's I learned how to shelf stock toys donated to hurting NYC children. And I delighted in learning that from the plethora of donated Bibles that we were encouraged to give away, there were Bibles specifically for African-Americans, for Spanish speakers, for children, pocket Bibles for women's purses, and even Bibles for new believers! After a couple of near boo-boos in the bowels of the subway stations I learned that "downtown" meant trains traveling south and "uptown" trains meant traveling north.

But these are not the things I came away with that were most precious to me. What is most precious in my memory from that trip were the many people who I can now call my "brothers and sisters in Christ" because they invited Jesus into their hearts! These stalwart New Yorkers, battered and hurting, are asking lots of tough questions. I did not have the answers to some of these questions. But I gladly shared from my heart the hope that is within me. And I boldly shared from my heart how they could have this same hope.

And precious to me were our fellow volunteer laborers. We could recognize each other by our Billy Graham Prayer Center Volunteer badges. At their own expense these precious people flew in from all over the United States to serve in whatever capacity needed. They were from different walks of life and from different Christian denominations. My heart marveled at how God's People respond where there is a crisis!

And precious to me are the memories of watching the human spirit prevail even under the most evil and devastating of circumstances. The big tough Brooklyn guy who told me with tears in his eyes that New Yorkers would never be the same but that they would rebuild their beloved city. And the many single mothers I counseled who worked at the Towers and lost their jobs and some of them almost their lives due to the attacks. And yet here they were, trying to make Christmas as "normal" as possible for their children by accepting donated toys. And most of all, the poignant impromptu memorials I encountered on street corners and alcoves all around the Ground Zero area. Teddy Bears, photos, police station rosters marking the missing and dead members, heart-rending letters from children to their missing parents and from wives and husbands to their missing mates, big bunches of flowers, long dried by time, and poems - written during lonely nights by hearts agonizing in longing for their missing and dead loved ones. These are the memories precious to me.

And I thank our Lord for allowing me the privilege of going to Ground Zero and NYC

Heather