Just like the baby boomers remember where they were when JFK was assonated, Gen X-Y-Zers will remember where they were Sept. 11, 2001. I had just gotten up and decided to relax in bed and watch the news. Around 8:45 was the first reports of a fire at WTC were coming and as I lay there watching the 2nd plane crashed and a little news of the Pentagon being hit. As the towers collapsed I knew I had to make the call to Cheryl Leonard, Chairperson for the North Carolina Critical Incident Stress Management Advisory Council (Carolina Emergency Response Massage Team-CERMT is a member of the Council). She told me we were on active alert to response to the disaster. CERMT doesn't automatically go into a situation we usually arrive after things are already settled down and the caregivers have had time to get into their routine. I alerted the team and we started making plans for our deployment. We scheduled fundraisers in Raleigh and Asheville to help off set our costs of travel and lodging in NY. The first team wasn’t able to deploy until Nov. 4th. Karen Venable, State Coordinator, Sylla Shepard Hanger, United Aromatherapy Effort, team members Chris Earl, Laura Landesil and myself made up the assessment team. When we left Raleigh we had about $5,000.00 worth of Aromatherapy products donated by many companies throughout the world. We worked with Safe Horizon, the country’s largest Family Assistance organization. They had been working 12-15 hours a day making sure anyone who needed money after the disaster got it. The team also worked at the Medical Examiners Office and the Midtown Fire Station. The response to Massage was phenomenal. A lot of the people had never had massage before so we turned many on to it for the first time. CERMT has been asked to come back by the NY Mayors Office of Emergency Management to work at the landfill site, St. Paul's Church, Safe Horizon, and the Fire and Police stations. We will be leaving for NY Dec. 22 - Jan. 5.

I'd personally like to thank everyone who donated to the cause.
God bless us all.
Doug E.