• After attacks, some Boulder residents stepped in.
On Sept. 11, 2001, Barbara Kendall was in Missouri leading a crisis response training for the National Organization for Victim Assistance.
When the weeklong event concluded, the new trainees ended up in New York City, supporting the survivors of the coordinated terrorist attack on America on Sept. 11. Kendall followed suit a few months later.
In the aftermath of the deadliest terrorist attacks in American history, some Boulder residents and others across the country felt compelled to offer assistance in an effort to process and make sense of what happened that day.
Much like Kendall, Jeff Blumenfeld felt called to action.
Blumenfeld has lived in Boulder for six years but was a Connecticut resident then, working for W.L. Gore & Associates, the company best known for developing the waterproof Gore-tex fabric.
The company donated outerwear and boots for first responders, and Blumenfeld was part of the group that took supplies into the city.
He won’t forget the drive. A lane was closed off for emergency vehicles, and people lined the exits, cheering and clapping for first responders and volunteers.
“It was very emotional,” Blumenfeld said. “I still tear up thinking about it.”
In New York City, he helped unload boxes of supplies for volunteers and first responders. Considering he was there for a day, it felt like a small effort, but Blumenfeld hopes it made an impact.
“In one tiny way maybe I made a difference in helping first responders,” he said.
When Kendall arrived in New York City two months after the planes hit the Twin Towers, Ground Zero was still smoking.
She was struck by the mess.
“It was pretty overwhelming,” she said. “Ground Zero was just an unbelievable situation.”
Blumenfeld expressed similar sentiments. The smell reminded him of a recently extinguished campfire.
After his initial volunteer efforts, Blumenfeld joined the board of directors for Voices Center for the Resilience, founded by Mary Fetchet, a mother from Blumenfeld’s former Connecticut town who lost her son on Sept. 11.
The organization keeps an interactive archive of the people who died during and since Sept. 11. And it’s since pivoted to share its resources with other communities experiencing tragedies.
“Maybe what we learned with Sept. 11 we can export and help other communities affected by tragedy,” Blumenfeld said.
After running the victim assistance program with the Boulder District Attorney’s Office, Kendall began volunteering with NOVA, where she ultimately was hired in 2001, months before Sept. 11.
She’s responded to the Columbine High School mass shooting, an earthquake in Japan, a hurricane in Florida.
Of all the interactions she had with people during her week in New York City, one sticks out in particular. A teacher was looking for advice in helping children process what happened.
She told Kendall her students were drawing pictures of the planes hitting the Twin Towers and writing descriptions of the attacks.
While crisis responders provide emotional support, they’re not therapists. For that reason, Kendall couldn’t do much aside from listening to her concerns. But the conversation remains with her to this day.
Because crisis responders are providing short-term support, Kendall said they try to connect survivors with resources that can continue that supportive work well after the initial traumatic event.
“Often, we don’t know what happens to people ultimately,” she said. “But we put them in a place where we’ve given them a way to go onto tomorrow or the next week and put some type of a plan in place for themselves
And as much as people who provide support for victims give of themselves, it’s important that they remember to support themselves, too. Crisis responders with NOVA generally spend about a week in the field, Kendall said.
“It doesn’t leave you,” she said. “In a giant event, it’s always with you. If you’re going to take care of other people, you have to make sure you’re taking care of yourself.”