COALITION TIMELINE


SEPT. 11
Disaster strikes Manhattan. Volunteers rallied by Kwong T. Hui, worked around Ground Zero making stretchers for the injured, helped at the Stuyvesant High School triage center, and checked on Independence Plaza residents who lived just a few blocks from the World Trade Center.

SEPT. 12
Day after the attack -- made door-to-door visits in Lower Manhattan, helped the displaced find shelter and made phone calls utilizing volunteers' cellular phones for those without phone service.

SEPT. 13 - 15
Teams of volunteers visited residents in Southbridge Towers, Rutgers, LaGuardia, Alfred E. Smith and Knickerbocker Houses. Respiratory masks, donated by St. Vincent's Hospital, were also distributed. Days of assisting in the relief effort prompted the realization that the area east of Ground Zero needed a special community relief effort.

SEPT. 15 & 18
Arranged group and one-to-one counseling for residents in Lower Manhattan at the Mariners' Temple Baptist Church, working with NYU Medical / Bellevue Hospital.

SEPT. 16
First official meeting of the Lower Manhattan Residents Relief Coalition (LMRRC), held at the office of the Funding Exchange. Project REACH (a youth center in Lower Manhattan) generously offers LMRRC office space. LMRRC website launched, drawing in disenfranchised volunteers.

SEPT. 17
LMRRC begins operation at Project Reach's donated office space. Enlisting the support of hundreds of volunteers, LMRRC continues extensive door-to-door visits in Southbridge Towers and the Lower East Side. Over fifteen hundred homes visited since Tuesday. Overwhelming majority of residents had not been visited by other relief crews.

SEPT. 18
With donated wood from local lumber companies, like Mikco Building Materials, Inc., LMRRC along with the Chinese Construction Workers Association built a series of Community Memorial Boards in the areas of Alfred E. Smith, Knickerbocker, Rutgers, and LaGuardia Houses. Local residents placed candles and messages of love and condolence on the Memorial Boards that evening.

Beginning SEPT. 19
Webman Associates, headed by Dorothy Webman, compiled health information from the American Lung Association and created an effective and simple language document entitled, "Safety Tips for Lower Manhattan Residents." Canon donated color copies of the Safety Tips and helped translating the document into Spanish and Chinese. LMRRC began distributing the tips to residents at LMRRC functions and door-to-door visits.

SEPT. 19
Local youths from the Eastside Community School (E. 12 St. & 1st Ave.) and Project REACH began community commemoration of the attacks by painting, posting and composing on the memorial boards built the previous day. Local stores, including Pearl Paint, donated supplies for their artwork.

SEPT. 20
Aided by Dorothy Webman of Webman Associates, LMRRC's Resource Coordinator, Shirley S. Kwan, made contact with Elny Oquendo of the Missionary Church of the Disciples of Jesus Christ - "Food for Life" Food Ministry, which had driven to New York City from California, to join the rescue effort. The "Food for Life" Ministry donated two (2) truckloads of food to local residents in need. The Ministry, along with LMRRC volunteers, served more than 1000 hot meals to residents at the Rutgers and LaGuardia Houses.

SEPT. 20
Finally convinced the Red Cross to extend their relief efforts beyond Ground Zero. In the evening, LMRRC volunteers distributed more than 500 hot meals donated by the Red Cross to seniors and/or disabled residents at Alfred E. Smith Houses.

SEPT. 21
Phone services remained down, affecting more than 20,000 local residents. Many residents with food stamp debit cards were unable to purchase groceries. LMRRC served hot meals to over a thousand residents of Rutgers and LaGuardia Houses. Another successful dinner -- 500 meals served on the Lower East Side.

SEPT. 21
Computers donated by Rush Computer Rental Company to LMRRC to facilitate with local relief and community rebuilding effort.

OCT. 4
LMRRC organized a meeting at the Community Room (200 Madison Street) between local residents and City government officials after the local residents' children suffered stomachaches and other sicknesses from drinking tap water in their homes. Local Department of Health, Department of Environmental Protection, and the NYC Housing Authority attended. Residents from LaGuardia, Lands End, Gouveneur Garden, and Rutgers Housing expressed their concern. LMRRC requested the DEP to test the water and inform the public of its finding.

OCT. 8
Invited by organizers of the13th Annual Behavioral Healthcare Tomorrow Conference and Expo held in Washington D.C., LMRRC representatives, Kwong Hui and Benny Lui, made a special presentation titled "One Life at a Time ... Finding Our Way," to mental health and behavioral science professionals. The presentation outlines how LMRRC led a community response to address the needs of our communities in the aftermath of the September 11th Disaster.

SEPT. 22 - OCT. 11

  • Identified building leaders to manage their own buildings, checking on neighbors, handing out volunteer flyers.
  • Visited Independence Plaza residents who had just moved back to their homes.
  • Created a structure for longevity that will give residents ownership of the LMRRC, allowing them to strengthen the community, access services, and create job opportunities.
  • Began tabulating financial losses of community members, preparing to apply for Federal Disaster Relief money.
  • Revisited residents in need of special services.
  • Called relatives, loved ones and service providers for residents without phone service
  • Obtained prescription medications and food for elderly and/or disabled residents unable to leave their apartments.
  • Transported residents to the hospital. Due to the lack of public transportation, many sick residents have been unable to get needed medical treatment.
  • Worked with the Manhattan Borough President, C. Virginia Field's office, delivering milk to residents.
  • Continued Red Cross food deliveries, serving lunch and dinner to over 11,000 residents to date.

NOV. 14 - 16
Invited by the U.S. Department of Health and Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, hosts of the national summit: "When Terror Strikes" conference held in New York City, LMRRC led a roundtable discussion on how we have been affected the WTC disaster. LMRRC made recommendations for making community response to future crises and ongoing needs prediction, appropriate and reliable. Government and NGOs in the health and human services field representing all 50 states participated in the conference.

NOV. 29
Residents of 105 Duane St. invited LMRRC to share our experience and strategies as they sought to organize against a management company that didn't respond sufficiently concerning the air quality in their building.

DEC. 15
LMRRC, District Leader Norma Ramirez and Minister Grimes hosted a Christmas Party for Children ages 2 - 14 years old at the Mariners' Temple Baptist Church. Volunteers served food and refreshments and gave out toys and played games with the children.

DEC. 18
LMRRC helped mobilize a rally in front of City Hall hosted by the WTC Emergency Environmental group. LMRRC representatives, Shirley Kwan and Maria Matos, spoke on behalf of Chinatown and Lower East Side about the environmental concerns faced by residents.

DEC. 18
LMRRC held a community meeting where residents focused on the second wave of issues arising out of 9/11, including the long-term environmental and economic impact on our neighborhoods. Residents made plans to survey the community about what has been lost, where relief efforts have fallen short and what our community needs to become stronger and more united in the future.

 

COALITION FAST FACTS
mid-Sept. to mid-Oct:

350+ Volunteers
10+ Organizations contributed goods and services
20+ Community leaders donating their sweat everyday

Thousands of residents visited, fed, comforted, organized.

 








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