
NEW YORK CITY (BP)–The gruesome task of recovering bodies from the site of the World Trade Center attack has largely disappeared from the evening news, but it remains a stressful reality for about 200 Port Authority Police Department officers putting in 12-hour shifts six days a week.
Those men — and particularly their wives — were the focus of a ministry effort by nine Southern Baptist women Feb. 19. Gift bags of lotions, chocolates and other personal items were given to the men to deliver to their wives as an effort to thank them for the heroic role they have played in helping keep families functioning. The ladies also hosted a catered meal of Italian food at the Port Authority’s ground zero headquarters — the first hot meal some of the men had eaten in many days.
Cheryl Reccord, wife of North American Mission Board President Robert E. Reccord and one of the coordinators of the project, said her message to the officers was that they had helped America redefine its image of a hero — from athletes and rock stars to police officers and firefighters.
“But we know there is another group of heroes, and that is your wives and families who are picking up the pieces so you can do what you do,” she told the men. “… It was just letting them know that we care about who they are.”
The project was part of “Enduring Hope,” the ongoing Southern Baptist relief effort for those affected by the Sept. 11 tragedy. Participants included NAMB employees, employee wives and several volunteers and missionaries from the Metropolitan New York Baptist Association.
The idea grew out of a conversation in early January between Reccord and the officer in charge at the site for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owned the World Trade Center complex and remains responsible for overseeing the recovery effort. Reccord learned many families have been stressed by the grief and emotionally taxing work of sifting through the rubble, so he began asking how Southern Baptists could help.
The gifts included body lotion, bubble bath and candles from Victoria’s Secret, Godiva chocolates and a grief recovery journal. The Reccords also donated copies of “Freedom from Fear,” a Bible study written by Cheryl Reccord and Linda Ebert, and Robert Reccord’s recent book, “Beneath the Surface” — which deals with avoiding the pitfalls that can destroy marriages. LifeWay Christian Resources contributed a compact disc containing instrumental Christian music.
“Several of the men when we were there mentioned the stress and strain, and the fact that they haven’t seen their kids, and have missed their ballgames and such,” Cheryl Reccord said. Their shifts have grown from eight to 12 hours, she said, and commute times are often an hour and a half to two hours each way — leaving little time for caring for their families.
“We were just struck with their tremendous appreciation, and the way that they began to open up with some of their own stories of what they were going through and what they’ve seen,” she said.
Stephanie Lyon, a NAMB administrative secretary, found the men remarkably ready to talk about spiritual matters. “I would say the concepts of death and eternity are extremely tangible up there,” she said.
The effort is just the start of what leaders in New York hope will be a continuing crisis intervention ministry to the Port Authority police led by Joe Williams, a chaplaincy specialist working fulltime with the Enduring Hope relief effort.
“They have been so open to what Southern Baptists have done,” said Williams, who has been asked to lead crisis intervention seminars for Port Authority chaplains.
“Their psychological services have admitted that they do not really know how to deal with the psychological trauma that these people will deal with when their job is done,” he said.
Williams, a former chaplaincy specialist for the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma, gained experience in crisis counseling as an FBI chaplain in the aftermath of the Murrah Federal Building bombing. For the past two years he has been director of the Crisis Intervention Institute through which he provides training for caregivers in “traumatology and compassion fatigue.” He has been an FBI chaplain since 1991.
The dinner and gift bags for the officers’ wives “opened the door of ministry to those people,” Williams said. “Those guys just came in and mingled with them, and they really opened up. … When Cheryl and these other ladies said, ‘We have been praying for you and we will be praying for you,’ these people really responded to that.'”
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(BP) photo posted in the BP Photo Library at https://www.bpnews.net. Photo titles: GROUND ZERO OUTREACH and PORT AUTHORITY MEMORIAL.