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Vale couple helps with New York relief effort By ANDIE LEATHERMAN, LTN Staff Writer Oct. 29 - A Vale couple say they are fortunate to have had the chance to help New Yorkers in the wake of Sept. 11. Don and Candace Besse volunteered in New York through the American Red Cross. “We are so blessed to have this opportunity,” Candace Besse said. She returned last week after spending four weeks in New York. Don Besse volunteered for three weeks. Days after the Sept. 11 attacks, the couple, Red Cross disaster volunteers since 1998, applied to provide relief in New York. Their law enforcement backgrounds garnered them volunteer positions. Candace Besse, who worked in banking security and as a reserve deputy in the Marin County, California Sheriff’s Office, wrote the policies and procedures for a center, making photo identification badges for Red Cross volunteers. Don Besse, a retired chief of detectives in the Marin County Sheriff’s Office, helped out. Setting up shop in a former hospital near the Brooklyn Bridge, the Besses and other volunteers made over 500 badges a day. The operation ran around the clock. Some 27,000 New Yorkers alone are working as volunteers in addition to people from across the country. “They’re trying to let New Yorkers if available rebuild their own communities,” Candace Besse said. Everybody helped. Microsoft paid its workers, displaced by the attack, to work with the Red Cross in setting up the photo identification center. Companies like Compaq, BMW, Ford, Chevrolet and Mercedes donated computers and cars. An IHOP restaurant served over 400 people breakfast every morning at Red Cross headquarters. A pizza company drove a truck equipped with ovens through the streets, giving away pizza. “I’ve never seen as much cooperation. Everybody was working toward one goal,” Don Besse said. The Besses saw more emphasis on spiritual assistance than at past disaster scenes. “I never saw as many as I saw this time, from Hasidic rabbis to Baptist ministers, the whole spectrum,” Candace said. The couple did not meet survivors of those killed. Instead, these individuals were served at guarded family assistance centers. Only authorized volunteers were admitted at those sites. Red Cross volunteers were assigned to each family, meaning no survivors had to wait in line for help. “Everything was done in such a respectful way,” Don Besse said. Police, fire, National Guard and construction personnel doing recovery work were served by two respite centers. The city’s top chefs cooked meals all day and night. Sleeping rooms were provided along with clean clothes and boots donated by the truck load. Massage therapists, chiropractors, therapy dogs, clergy and medical personnel were available. “The workers were emotionally wrung out. They needed to recharge,” Candace Besse said. The rubble is sorted by hand so personal items like pictures and wallets and body parts can be retrieved. The items also are sifted before being deposited in a Statton Island landfill. The crash site is a crime scene as well. “It’s being done with so much dignity and respect,” Candace Besse said. Electrical wires continue to burn. After a visit to what is called “ground zero,” the couple coughed for days. They describe the area as “surrealistic.” They saw smoke coming out of the ashes, steel girders sticking up. They caught themselves asking if the scene was real. “We saw a lot of tears, including our own,” Don Besse said. However, they said the outpouring of cooperation and support was strong in the midst of sadness. “You can’t imagine the kindness that evolved out of this,” Don Besse said.
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© 2001 Lincoln Times-News |
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