A Call to Action: Volunteers Provide Critical Support to Recovery

Giovanny Guerrero was on his way to work on the morning of September 11, 2001. The chiropractor's assistant was walking up the stairs of the Broadway and Nassau subway exit as the second plane hit the World Trade Center.

"I saw people running towards me," recalls Guerrero. "I didn't know which way to run."

When Guerrero saw a woman across the street fall, he knew the only direction he could run: towards those in need.

"I ran across the street and pulled her up and took her to St. Paul's Chapel," says Guerrero. "Then I thought, 'I just learned CPR and first aid. I might as well keep going to see if there's anything else I can do.'"

Within minutes, Guerrero became one of the countless volunteers who responded to the unfolding crisis.

"Everybody wanted to help," says Guerrero. "Somebody told us we had to leave. Then some guy with the NYPD said, 'Stay. We need all the help we can get.'"

Guerrero stayed. Initially he helped survivors flee the devastation. Within the first hours, he joined a construction crew that pulled debris from the street so emergency vehicles could get through. On the night of September 11, he helped a triage unit clean rescue workers' eyes.

For the next two days, Guerrero worked at Stuyvesant High School, stocking and dispensing emergency supplies.

After three sleepless nights, Guerrero went home to the downtown apartment he shares with his mother and sister. When he returned to the disaster site the following morning, he was told he needed credentials. In the process of filling out the paperwork, Guerrero stopped to help unload a Salvation Army truck filled with bottled water.

"When I got back in line to get my credentials, the guy behind the desk asked if I was with the Salvation Army. A colonel who happened to be walking by at the same time said, 'Yeah, he's with us.'"

A year later, Giovanny Guerrero is still with the Salvation Army. Having quit his job with the chiropractor, Guerrero now assists displaced workers and families of survivors to find the help they need. He also helps plan special events for the Salvation Army.

His first assignment was coordinating the organization's annual Thanksgiving dinner.

"I thought it was a volunteer job," says Guerrero, laughing. "They told me they wanted to plan a dinner for 1,600 people with food, decorations, music. I was, like, 'Well, okay!' And I started running."

Just like he did on September 11, 2001.

Today, the hardest part of Guerrero's job is finding places for people like himself.

"For some events we have hundreds more volunteers than we can use," he says. "It's hard to say no to people who just want to help."

The Kindness of Strangers: FEMA's Volunteer Partnerships

Historians will be hard-pressed to find an event in U.S. history that so touched the hearts of Americans.

Whether they felt angry, saddened, or simply numb with disbelief by the events of September 11, most Americans did the same thing: they gave—and in record amounts.

An estimated $2 billion was contributed to victims and survivors of 9/11. That doesn't include the more than $50 million of in-kind services that were donated or the 100-plus voluntary agencies and faith-based groups that arrived at Ground Zero.

Coordinating and distributing the donated goods and services that poured into New York was no easy job. In times of disasters, FEMA works closely with voluntary and faith-based agencies to make sure that the outpouring of compassion and generosity, like Giovanny's, is put to good use.

"Our role is to work closely with voluntary agencies and our state and local partners in matching resources to needs," says Ben Curran, FEMA's Voluntary Agencies Coordinator.

FEMA helped the voluntary agencies divide the critical issues so that they could better focus their response. The range in issues was staggering.

"We had everything from children whose parents didn't come home that night to people who just needed a hot meal," recalls Curran.

Responding to the immediate and longer-term needs of New Yorkers was possible, says Curran, because of the common goal shared by the voluntary agencies.

"Everyone involved in the recovery effort knew that we were all striving to meet the wide number of needs in a timely and sensitive manner. The fact that we collectively enjoyed considerable success is a tribute to the New York community and its long tradition of serving those in need."