9/11: Looking Back, and Looking Forward

first responders, and their families. It's about the people who lived through this devastating tragedy, the pain, loss, health challenges, and emotional trauma they've experienced, but also the remarkable strength

and resilience they've displayed. As a Senator for New York on that day and in the aftermath, I joined in witnessing the devastation at the World Trade Center in New York, at the Pentagon in our nation's capital, and at Shanksville, Pennsylvania, and I was deeply involved in the response and recovery efforts that followed. Today, I want again to focus on those impacted directly by September eleven, to listen to their stories twenty years later, and to talk with them about

how they've rebuilt their own lives. So I'm speaking with Regina Wilson, a twenty two year veteran with the Fire Department of the City of New York. She's one of the few black female firefighters among the ranks and was on the scene that day and at Ground zero in the aftermath alongside her fellow first responders. I'll also be talking with Jay Winnick, who lost his brother Glenn in the World Trade Center and then went on to create the nine eleven Day of Service in Glenn's memory. But first,

I am delighted to be reconnecting with Debbie st. John. Debbie is one of the most heroic women I know. On her way to work that beautiful September Tuesday morning, Debbie was struck by falling debris from the second airplane when it hit the World Trade Center. Her legs were crushed, she lost consciousness, and she was admitted to New York University Downtown Hospital as Jane Doe Number one. Nobody even

knew who she was. I visited with Debbie in the hospital days after nine eleven, and then we kept in touch over the years as her recovery from countless success of surgeries and rigorous physical therapy turned into a year's long battle with opioid dependency. Through it all, Debbie remains one of the most determined and optimistic people I've ever met, and I was so happy that she could join me for this episode. I cannot tell you how happy I

am to talk with you. I have to start by asking, how are you feeling as the twentieth anniversary of September eleven approaches. I think about you so often, and I would bet this is a particularly challenging time for you. You know, It's interesting because as much as I'm so related to nine eleven, I'm not really emotionally attached to it, because the only bit of nine eleven that's really real in a sense to me is the visual of the second plane hitting the building that I saw and then

thinking to run. That's my largest memory of all unleven, including the hospital. So I didn't think the twentieth anniversary mattered, But I'm finding I'm a bit more attached, and it's affecting me emotionally more than I thought, probably because I'm talking about it more than I've ever talked about I bet that's right. You have shared with me and others.

I know what happened to you on September eleven. You were on your way to work at the World Financial Center when that second plane hit and then you were hit by falling debris that left you severely injured. I wanted to ask you to, you know, just reflect about what you do remember and about your recovery from that day. Wow. For me, most of my story is from what people told me. Um. I just turned thirty years old on

June one. I truly believed, without a shadow of a doubt, it was going to be the best year of my life. I had worked my butt off to be professionally where I wanted to be, educationally where I wanted to be, and the last probably five years before nine eleven, really worked on myself emotionally, you know, to be the happiest

and most hopeful, positive person I could be. And I woke up that morning and I woke up Greg, my fiance, and I showed him I was wearing the shirt that he bought me for my birthday, and I went to the subway, the one in the nine, to go to World Trade. The plane must have hit while we were probably still in the subway car, because by the time we got up to the stairs, the doors opened and they were big guys with big um I remember the shirts I think they were Navy with yellow writing with

w TC on them. But they said, we're going to take you to safety. We walk out, and then I remember looking up seeing the second well I didn't know it was the second, but seeing a plane hit the World Trade Center, someone yelled, run for cover. I saw a construction awning, which is probably not the best thing to run for cover over, but it was the only thing I can find. And my last thought was I have the worst shoes on for running. I thought it

was like my fault for wearing those shoes. And Greg, it said to me, if you would run a second slower or a second fest or you might not be alive. That's why I remember. And Greg was then your fiance, now your husband my husband? Yes, And the rescuers literally picked you up off the sidewalk, and I guess rushed you, carried you to the hospital as far as you remember,

Is that right. So there's four men who helped save me, Paul Stefen, Orlando and Frank Orlando and Frank were the a m T. S. Stefan saw the first plane hit. He was I think a medic or helped out in that capacity. So he decided to go head down to the Wall Trade Center and CYA he could help, so, he said he noticed me as soon as I hit the street. He saw when the second plane hit, and he saw me look scared. He saw me run, and

we were running together. I believe, he said. I was on the left side of him, and he kept track of me, someone he never met before or I knew anything about. And um, he saw a huge it looked like a propeller. I'm assuming this was part of the landing gear coming towards us, and he thought we were going to die. And the next thing he knows, I'm thrown back. The propeller goes two feet into like a cement wall, and he's feet away from me. I never thought about what it must have been like after the

plane hit. You know, it's like a war zone. It's like the apocalypse happening, burning pieces. I never thought of any of that. I never really knew that he saw all this and he chose to go run to death. Pretty much for a stranger, it's nice to know that there's kindness in really bad times, and that you know, people really try to be there for each other, even

though it doesn't really look like it right now. I mean That is one of the lasting lessons for me is at that time, people did come together, They did help each other, They tried to do whatever they could in the moment of such crisis and tragedy. Your journey is so incredible because you were severely injured. My butt was literally on the road next to me, sliced off.

I mean when I visited you in the hospital, the doctors and this was just a day or two after nine eleven, you know, we're just amazed that you were still going, given the devastation of the injuries that you suffered. And I remember going to see you. I heard that, you know, there there were people who had been injured. And I remember walking into your hospital room, Debbie, and you had these beautiful braids you had. Your hair was in braids. The nurse ran up ten minutes before you

got here. For those reasons, I'll tell you. In the building, I'll tell you you looked at gelic even though you were devastatingly injured. You were so brave, Debbie. I remember when I first saw your determination in action, when you told me you were going to dance at your wedding. This this young woman lying in this hospital bed, who many many people thought would never walk again, let alone dance again five or survived. Let's be honest, uh telling

me I am going to dance at my wedding. And you know what, I can attest to that because I came to your wedding. I watched you walk down the aisle and myself and have that first dance. That determination, your absolute tenacity in the face of the worst kind of trauma. I just was so inspiring. Can you talk

about that moment and what made it such a milestone. Well, first of all, you have to think about what I've been going through is eighteen months in the hospital and then the next three years, every three months I had a surgery. Yeah, so the year of the wedding, I took the year off to get healthy, and it was like kind of being an athlete for it. I trained for it, I was working out, I was doing physical therapy. I was doing everything I could. Thank God, at that point,

I wasn't sick on the opioids. Although I was sick. I did throw up for two hours in the middle of my wedding, and no one knew. I did not know that. But um, I feel like in many ways I was born this way. And I had a very difficult childhood. I had to be a warrior to get through my childhood. I also believe my gift to the

world is that a model healing. Yes, you do. I'm wondering whether, as you think about the last twenty years, is there some lesson that you would like other people to take from, not just nine eleven, but from what you've gone through. Well, you know, since I've figured out about opioids, and less opioids mean less pain. And everyone in the country talks about opioid addiction, but no one talks about opioid dependency, which is millions of people. That's true,

and that's me. I'm the face of opioid dependency. Well, you were in agony, and you were in pain for so many years, and then I also had something called opioid induced hyper algees yet, which is very common and every payment mint doctor knows about it, but they don't talk about it. And that's anyone who's on opioids for an extended period of time, and that could be a week. The opioids mess your nervous system and your brain up so much that your body goes on the defense and

it causes all the pain. I was living on a hundred milligrams and Methodona day. My level of pain from one to ten was an eight to eleven. Seriously, and I'm completely off of Methodona. I'd say I'm before on once ten, I don't really have chronic pain. When you think about your own journey and all of the challenges, what do you want people to know about recovering from trauma and in the case of so many recovering from opioid dependence, what words of hope encouragement that helped you

that you can share. Well, I'll be Over the years, when anyone we know has gone through a major tragedy, I usually get a phone call M and um. The last one, which was a long time ago, was UM, my husband's best friend's wife lost the baby at eight a half months. Oh God. And she called me up and she said, what do I do when I feel like my world is ending and I'm in all this pain? How do I go on? And I've been asked that a lot, And it's when life is so bad and

all you're doing is suffering. You have to find the moments to hold onto and you have to give yourself goals. I mean, for me, a lot of times, my only goal is to get out of bed. M hm. You have to make really really small goals, but you must have goals, and once you achieve your goal, you must celebrate your successes. So what is next for you? I mean, now you're focused on your recovery from opioid dependence. What

else is motivating you. My twin girls turned ten this past April, and it was the first time we went on a family vacation because I was well enough. I was at Universal Studios. Me who can't even like do three hours of work sometimes from ten thirty in the morning until six pm at night. It was so much fun. You forget like I was always a big ride fan before, but you know, I got no butt, like you think,

can I do these things? And truly just feeling that elation and excitement and fear and all that that comes to the ride. It made me remember the joy of things, you know like that. So for me, like the girls, are you talking about it? What our next trip is? And I think it or not. I think it's gonna be to Washington, d C. In the spring. Excellent. I've never been to the White House. I think it'd be really cool for them to see that. I would love

for you to see that me too, you know. And the other thing that I really want to do is, you know, our country is and I want to talk a pandemic. We are in an opio epidemic and the world as well, but no one talks about the millions of us behind closed doors suffering with our families watching

us on opioid dependency. So for me, the biggest thing that I want to do in any way possible is to save people from the twenty years of opioid dependency that I had to live through because not eleven might have changed my life drastically in a moment, but opioids

is what's stopped it for twenty years. And I really feel like if the message gets out that people really understand that the opioids is what's causing your pain and making you feel worse, I really feel that that can change the true factory of this epidemic and of addiction independency. Your courage is inspiring and will get people to pay attention. Debbie. I hope so, and I can't wait to see what the next time in twenty years means to you and

your family. God bless you. I'm excited, take care, Thank you so much. After twenty years spent rebuilding her life, Debbie is now starting to publicly share her story. She's currently writing a book about surviving nine eleven and then overcoming opioid dependency. Knowing Debbie, I know it's going to be a terrific read. Regina Wilson was only a few years into her career as a New York City firefighter

when the attacks of September eleventh took place. She was also then and now one of the very few women, let alone women of color in the department. But that morning, she was just starting the second of two back to back shifts at her station in Brooklyn when the news broke and the firehouse alarm sounded, and so she, like so many other first responders, ran toward danger. She got on the truck, she made her way to Lower Manhattan

with her fellow firefighters. She assisted in the immediate rescue efforts that day and then the arduous search and recovery mission in the months that followed. I was so honored that Regina shared her story with me, and I am so pleased to share that story with you. Welcome to the show, Regina, Thank you. I am thrilled to see you.

We won't be able to convey to everyone listening to this podcast everything special about you, particularly your extraordinary singing voice, which I've had the privilege of hearing uh several times. But it's great to be with you, and I just want to start by checking in how are you doing, How did you get through the pandemic? How are you facing all of the weather and related challenges that we now confront Well, first, I want to start off us saying it's such an honor to be on your podcast.

I mean, I've loved you since. Hopefully you remember the time that we got stuck in California. It was a group of women and you were able to get us back home. The airline we flew all went out of business. I was like, how does that happen? And so you came and saved the day and got us home, and just to see how much compassion and care you have for all of us and wanted to make sure we got home safely. From then, I've I've always been a

champion of yours and I will continue to be. But on this side, um, it's been a difficult two years, especially adjusting to so much to death going on in the city, and how we had to shift a lot of gears and be creative with how we were going to help the citizens of New York, and then just the looming thought of this disease that may ravish us and our family. It was very difficult time. I am grateful to guy that I definitely made it through and

my family did. But it's just a hard toll to bear to see that your neighbors and you know, the person that you always greeted at the store or you know at the car wash or the gas station is no longer there, and to see how just hard it hurt this city. But I'm doing well right now. It's just it's just a really busy time, and this week is it's tolling enough. But it's just a really hard time.

I totally understand that because you have been on the front lines for more than twenty years now, so much that has happened in the city, and be before we jump right into your experiences on nine eleven, I wanted to ask you a little bit about your history and your life before that day. What made you decide to become a firefighter. Had you ever known any firefighters or have any role models. Absolutely not. It was nowhere in

my radar. Nothing I've ever thought about doing. When I went to school, I wanted to come out and be in corporate America. Right, that's when you come out of college. Most of the times, you know, you want to get into different fields. But it's never, um think about blue collar how to really get in touch with the neighborhood.

You want to try and move outside of it. So, um, I actually was at an expo at Jacob Javis Center because I went there to look for clothes in the latest styles and what was going on in black culture. So when I was stopped by these firefighters, you know, I didn't really pay them any mind. I'm like, I'm like here to get bags. Like. So when they came up to me, I mean their elevator speech was great, right, Um,

in the beginning, it wasn't. And I was walking as they were talking to me because they were like, oh, you can make a million dollars and twenty years. I'm like, I want to make a million dollars now. I don't want to wait twenty years. You know, Oh, this is a great pension. I'm like, I'm in my twenties. I'm not really thinking about pension, even though people in your twenties, you should think about pension in your twenties. And so it wasn't really appealing to me and the and the

money that they were making. I was making more money working at a real estate company. But what pique my interest was that, well, you know, it's not a lot of women and it's not a lot of African Americans on the job, so this would be a great opportunity for you to be a part of it. That's what kind of left me intrigued, because I was like, everybody loves firefighters, right, like everybody thinks that's the greatest profession in the world. But why isn't it that women aren't there?

And why is it their blacks aren't there. So that's what made me like fill out the paper and say, okay, well let me see what this is about. Then I was groomed by the United Women Firefighters Association and the Votal Society. And if it was not for them mentoring me, and I mean, because I've never had a job where people will call your house to make sure that you took the tests that you studied, They trained you physically,

they kept telling you how much. They wanted you. They were like, what are you doing, Come to the firehouse, Come see what it's like. So they were trying to bring me into this family and it was just an amazing thing for me to experience. And the Vulcan Society is a very esteemed organization for black and brown firefighters. Right. Yes, the society is eighty two years old and it was

start by forty one firefighters. But the main person who tried to get a everybody organized was Chief Wesley Williams. When he came on the job, they had black beds, were only the black firefighters because sleep in his bed and it was mainly near the bathrooms. They had black forks, knives, plates, and spoons, and it was such um separation that he felt that this was unjust for all other blacks coming

on the job. So him and forty one other firefighters later on in the years formulated the Vocal Society, which is the reason why I'm here today. I know that representation has continued to slowly increase, but still I think it's fair to say, Regina that women firefighters are still um small and numbered. So what was it like for you joining the department as a woman of color. So coming into the academy, I was the only woman there. It was over three hundred candidates coming on and it

was seven black people. So to come from a culture of being surrounded by like minded people that look like you, and then to come to a culture where I can't even find estrogen in the room like it was, it was difficult. Um. I remember crying a lot. I remember going into my bathroom and put in prayer scriptures on the on the glass that I can be able to see every day how God would be inspiring me to

keep going forward. But I'm glad that I was brought through that journey because I was the first African American woman hired in fifteen years since the Brenda Berkman days, my idol, so since the lawsuit, I was the first black woman hired in fifteen years. So the weight of that was already on my shoulders. But I knew that it needed to be done. And you reference Brenda Berkman, who might also know who had the guts to sue the fire department because of the way women and people

of color were discriminated against. You know, you did stick it out, and I think about all that you and your fellow firefighters and so many others gave and displayed on September eleventh, two thousand and one. Can you talk me through what that day was like for you and how did you even learn something had happened of such a terrible magnitude. I actually was working the night before and I got hired for the day tour. So I went into the house watch and that's the area where

you come and like check in. But um, I actually got assigned to work in the truck. So I was working across the floor in Latta one oh five. So when I was checking a sheet, um, one of my co workers, John Chapora, he saw him. He was like, hey, Reginea, I see that you're working in the truck today. Do you mind if I work in the truck? And I was like no, like I'm working over time, like I'm I'm getting extra money. I don't care where I work.

But I knew that he had his paper in for the truck, and so I was like, no, go ahead, you know, not a problem. You know, I know you want to transfer over to go to the truck, so get some truck experience, and I don't mind. So then as I was starting to check the rig. I was hearing the guys in the kitchen yelling, and I was like, oh, oh my god, and I was like, what are they watching?

Like this is crazy, and I thought it was like a television show, but then I knew that it wasn't because I started to hear the news broadcaster speaking and then I saw like the signature line underneath that a plane crashed into the building. And so we were just trying to wrap our minds around this tragedy. And then you were kind of like talking to each other and then the tone alarms go off and they called for

the truck to respond to the trade center. So we tried to help them, you know, get extra tools to put on the truck, and then one on five left, so we just waited. We just watched the TV and was seeing everything that was going on, and then I think it was probably about an hour. We got a call for a suspicious package after that, and as we were going to the suspisige package run, they took us off that call and then we went into the battery tunnel and started to proceed to go into the chaos,

which was not eleven. So as you're on the truck on the rig, heading towards the World Trade Center. What did you see? What was your impression? Initially, as you responded, as we were going through the Brooklyn Battery tunnel, this large gush of wind came and it shook the engine. It shook the engine so violently we had to stop. I knew something was wrong because the engine holes five gallons of water. How were you shaking five gallons of water? But as we went forward, we saw this smoke, this

white smoke that looked like a blizzard. But then all of these people started walking towards us that like looked like zombies, and they had all this white dust on them, and that was because the building fell. They were coming and walking towards our way. And I remember there was a woman that was asthmatic, and I had to try and take water and put it all over her face. But there was nothing that I could do for her. So we we pulled the rig up down Water Street

and then we started to walk towards the buildings. But as we were walking towards the buildings, I remember on my radio hearing we're under attack, We're under attack, and then I heard like this swooping sound. My boss said, run, run, run, so we ran back towards the engine, and when I turned around to look at what was happening, there was this big black smoke that was following us from that point.

I put on my mask real quick, and then I remember this smoke just covered all of us, and I was just sitting there thinking like, oh my god, what's gonna happen. What's gonna happen to me? I didn't know what was going on. And then I saw that the smoke was starting to pass, and so I said, okay, I made it out of that. And so our officer grabbed us up again and we started to proceed forward with the with the vehicle, but we couldn't move anymore

because a lot of the vehicles were abandoned. As we were walking, we just seen all of these cars on fires. We saw buildings on fires. The hydrants weren't working, so we had to collect holes from all of the abandoned engines and draft the water from the river. It was a crazy day to think out of the box and figure out how to deal with the situations and what happened to that first truck and with the firefighter who said, hey, will you switch with me so I can get on

that truck. Yeah, everyone in Lot one oh five died that day and John's body was never found. They have a picture of one oh five going across the Brooklyn Bridge as the Trade Center was on fire. So knowing and seeing the sacrifices of people going to that building, not knowing how or what they were getting themselves into. Um they still went, you know. And UM watching some of these specials and you're seeing the firefighters walk in the lobby of the building, knowing with fate they were

going to meet. It's just devastating. I remember making a phone call when I got on the scene. I called my nephew's grandmother because her number is the only one I can remember, to tell them to let my family know that I'm okay right now, and if anything happened to me, just tell them I died, loving what I'm doing, and for them not to worry about me. And then I remember when I hung up the phone, I was resolved and like a piece and a calmness came over me.

And then after that point, I just got to work and I just needed to work until I couldn't work anymore. And that's what you did. Absolutely. Do you remember when you finally left the scene. Yes, I I left and we got back about eleven thirty midnight to the firehouse. And this is why I love people and why I love doing my job, because when we got back to the firehouse, all of the neighbors. When in the firehouse, they brought us food, They gave us hugs, a change

of clothes if we needed it. You know, they were giving me bobby pins and brushing my hair, and they just wanted to take care of us, you know. And to know that people love you as much as you love them, like it made all the difference in the world to me, and it made me really want to keep going back and keep serving the public. And like I get emotional just thinking about it, because when people

don't feel loved, I don't understand it. When you have e M t s and police officers and firefighters who don't know you right and they want to rest their life to save you. And it's weird because some of these people hold these weird views of religion and people's races and color, and it's crazy on the fireside that they would have such disagreements about women and people of color, but they would go and sacrifice their lives to go

and save one. So I just wish like the craziness of the thought of Hay would just leave people's minds and just everybody just love each other, because there's so much more fulfilling to love people then say it is. It's and it's empowering and it's energizing and it makes

for a better life. Absolutely. You know, I will never forget going to Ground zero the day after, and the air was so thick and acrid, and you literally could see everything from the collapsed buildings filling the air and by extension, filling your lungs, and you know, I I was told to wear a face mask, and it was immediately clear to me that despite what was being claimed, Uh,

the air was not safe to breathe. And part of my work then going forward for years as a senator was to try to focus on the health impact for survivors and first responders, workers and residents. Did you suffer any health complications following your work at Ground Zero? Uh? The only thing that I've experienced is like nasal drip,

you know. But what I'm concerned about is, even though it's the twenty anniversary, like I still don't know what could possibly go on with my body, and the fact that there's so few studies on women in the fire service and the effect that cancers or fires have to our bodies, you know, figuring out what happens with us giving birth or our uteruses or anything like that, Like

they're so afraid to touch that. That is definitely a big concerned amone, especially being in the ceremonial unit and having to attend the depths of people World Trade Center related illnesses and how we're probably going to meet and surpass the number of firefighters that died on the day of September eleven with the number of people that die from Wheelchace Center related illnesses. You said earlier that this is a week of lots of reminders because we are

approaching the twenty anniversary of nine eleven. Does this year anniversary feel different compared to the previous years that we've all gone through. Yeah, it definitely does, because there's a lot more going on and happening ceremonies across the city.

But I just think it's good and bad. Right. It's good because you know, I'm started to see some of the families coming out, Some of the firefighters sons are now firefighters on a job and getting together every year is always a blessing for me to be able to see the people that I used to work with that may no longer be on the job, or their families or the kids of the members. That is always something that I hold dear. But it's always a time that

brings you back and sobers you up in it. To me, it's just a gloomy day, but um as a city, we gather together and deal with it. That's why I'm so proud of my city. Right. You know, we're remembering a very terrible time twenty years ago. But the best way to be a living rebuke to what happened on nine eleven is to serve others, to love others, to reach out and lift up others. And that's what you've done. You've done that over those twenty two years. You will

continue to do that. Thank you so very much for everything you are doing and will continue to do. I'm very grateful. Well, thank you too. It's been an honor and a blessing to talk to you, and I'm so excited to be able to be here and have this conversation. It's a dream for me, So I thank you so much. Regina tells me that, along with all the other things on her plate, she is thinking of running for office

sometime in the future. I mentioned at the beginning of my conversation with Regina that she has a beautiful singing voice, but don't take my word for it. Here she is three years ago, on the anniversary of nine eleven, performing God Bless America at a Mets game to the Shaw Why Bless so may call by sweet by co Bye. My final guest today is Jay Winnick. Jay was also my guest at the State of the Union address in two thousand and eight when I was still the Senator

from New York. Jay lost his brother Glenn on nine eleven, and when Jay and some friends came up with the idea of a nine eleven Day of service, I supported their effort, both as a Senator but really as a fellow American. Jay is a public relations professional, but he's dedicated the past twenty years to trying to make something good and positive come out of all the pain and loss and grief that his family and so many other

families experienced after nine eleven. You know, Jay, it's been a great gift for me to be able to follow and support the work that you've done over the last two decades. You took the tragedy of the loss of your brother and turned it into an opportunity for people to give back and to be of service. Could you, first of all talk a little bit about your brother and describe his heroic efforts on that day. Yes, thank you. As you well know, Glenn was a partner at the

law firm Holland to Night. Their offices were located at the Broadway Building, which was situated just a couple of blocks from the Trade Center. Glenn for twenty years was a volunteer firefighter in our hometown on Long Island, and he had first time served as the fire commissioner in that fire district. He was specially certified in building collaps rescue training. That morning, Glenn was in his apartment when

the first plane hit. He raced downtown. He helped evacuate the Holland the Night law offices, and then borrowed a first responder medic beg from responders on the scene and his building, and he raced into the South tower on foot to save lives and perished when the South tower collapsed. His partial remains were recovered March two thousand two, surgical gloves on his hands, stethoscope on his person, medic beg by his side, in likely what had been the lobby

area of the South Tower. That's as best we know about his actions that morning. I know what a tremendous loss that was to you and your family, and I also know many family members were so devastated by their loss and their grief that it took a long time for them to gain their footing again at all. But it wasn't too long after you found Glenn and you began to think about, how do you make something good, something positive out of this terrible catastrophe. How did that

thinking evolve for you? J Well. A good friend and colleague named David Payne, who lived three thousand miles away in California but was a New Yorker, originally called me soon after the attacks. Here he was this New Yorker in California, witnessing what was happening in New York, but really witnessing what was happening all over the country, people stepping forward with acts of kindness to do whatever they

could in the aftermath at the attacks. And David called me, and he said look, you're the only nine eleven family member. I know I feel terrible about your brother, but I have this idea about trying to create a ritual in this country where each nine eleven people do good deeds. And I thought, you know, that really makes sense to me. Glenn was somebody who lived his life in service and died in so of us. When David first called me, my family was still reeling, as so many families as

you well know where. I said to David, let me think about your idea. I have a lot on my plate right now. I'll get back with you. And I did you know some weeks later and I said, you know what, I'm ready. Let's do this. Let's see what we can get going here. We had no staff, we had no budget, we had no plan. But you know, we were a couple of public relations professionals. We knew how to get the word out and it was important to both of us to try and make something good happen.

From this day, we felt like if in the future people only learned about the attacks and they did not have a good understanding about the way the world came together, focusing on our common humanity, embracing our differences, then we

will have lost an opportunity. And so one of the first things we did was we arranged to meet with the leaders of all the different nine eleven organizations and trying to get a sense from them did they feel like this was a good idea to create a day of service in honor of those who perished or who

were injured. And universally everybody we spoke with within nine eleven community was receptive to it, and they thought, yes, as difficult as things are right now, this is a good path forward for the future as it relates to nine eleven. And so we were often running and here we are twenty years later, still at it. And so this initiative, with the help of so many people, including yourself, has grown into the nation's largest annual day of charitable engagement.

Between twenty and thirty million people a year marked the day by doing good deeds for others. And that is such a great tribute to your leadership and really to the mission. Have you found that by talking about Glenn and the loss that represented to you and your family and linking that to service, that you're able to help people who also have suffered loss and are looking for

some kind of positive path forward. Yes, you know. On one hand, I have a front row see because of the work I do in this initiative to see the most amazing outpouring of generosity by people who participate. On the other hand, I also hear from a lot of people, and meet with a lot of people and speak a lot of people who have also suffered loss, and they

express great appreciation that something like this observance exists. We have a board member who was a nine eleven family member who lost her husband, and she says this observance now gives her a safe and positive place to be on nine eleven. But it's not just about people who are affected by nine eleven. You know, as we all know, people suffer great tragedy in their life. But if if this observance also gives them hope, then we have accomplished something.

And I know that we have because I hear from them all the time. As we approached the twentieth anniversary, I don't know about you, but it seems a little surreal. It felt like it happened yesterday. But I meet young adults all the time who weren't born then don't fully grasp the impact that it had on those of us who experienced it. So what are your specific plans for this year and how do you intend to try to reach out, educate and involve young people as well well.

We have a number of plans in place. As you might imagine, I mean a major milestone. We are again staging large scale meal packs and cities all over the country where thousands and thousands of volunteers come together and they packed nonperishable, dry good meals that are then donated through Feeding American food banks in those cities. We're partnering with World Central Kitchen again as we did last year.

I love them, raising the money to purchase meals from independently owned restaurants and cities around the country, restaurants that have really been hit hard by the pandemic, so it helps them, and then those ready to go meals are donated to healthcare workers and first responders. There's a way to say thank you for doing what you do to be on the front line to keep us safe. We have an education program in the schools UH and we provide free lesson plans downloadable lesson plans on our website

for teachers to use so they can engage students. Nine eleven day dot org and there they will find opportunities to volunteer in so many different ways. We're launching a national ps A campaign that is very unusual in that we've brought together more than twenty people from a cross section of the nine eleven community to together deliver a

message that we are stronger together than we are divided. Yes, and as you know, well, Secretary Clinton, nine eleven did affect just Republicans, just Democrats, just people on the East Coast. It affected everybody. That's right. We were all Americans, and we were a global community to you know. Of course, people from more than ninety countries perished on nine eleven,

and the world responded together. So when we think about the things that typically divide us, you know, all of that pales in comparison to what happens when we come together to tackle challenges. And as you reference earlier, we need that so much. I feel like saying amen, thank you for that. No, seriously, it it is the message we are stronger together. We have to start taking care of each other. We do need to learn more emphathy,

practice more kindness and service. And some people I know might hear us talking, oh wow, you know so Pollyannish, so they have no idea how life changing it is to actually serve somebody else. I mean, that's the great lesson. You can lift yourself out of grief and loss and even anger and confusion by going out and helping somebody else. That's the beauty, that's the real message of everything you've been doing for twenty years. Well, you articulated it very well.

I can't thank you enough. J. You know, losing your brother Glenn as he ran toward helping people and then was lost in the collapse of the South Tower was such a devastating experience for your entire family. And the way that you have summoned the best of us, called us to service, called us to kindness. It's one of the lasting legacies of not eleven and I am incredibly grateful for your leadership and your example. Thank you, my friend, Well,

I thank you. As Jay mentioned, you can find out more about the September eleventh National Day of Service and Remembrance and how you can get involved at nine eleven day dot org. As we mark this milestone twenty anniversary, I'll be thinking about Debbie, Regina, Jay and the countless other people I've met who were directly impacted by nine eleven. I'll also be thinking about our country and the challenges we've overcome, as well as the ones that still lie ahead.

And I'll be thinking about how this terrible tragedy inspired incredible acts of heroism and service, giving rise to a remarkable moment of national unity. Oh. I so hope that as we mark twenty years since nine eleven, we will be reminded to carry some of that same spirit of unity with us as we moved together into the future. You and Me Both is brought to you by I Heart Radio. We're produced by Julie Subran, Kathleen Russo and

Rob Russo. No relation, but they're both terrific and with help from Juma Aberdeen, Oscar Flores, Lindsay Hoffman, Bree Henshaw, Brianna Johnson, Nick Merrill, and Lona Velmorrow. Our engineer is Zack McNeice, and the original music is by Forrest Gray. Thank you for joining me for this special episode. I wish you and your loved ones all the best, and I can't wait to come back to our weekly schedule starting in twenty two