Southeast Missouri responds to Sept. 11 attacks

Overwhelming. It's the one word that best describes the community response local Red Cross staff and volunteers saw following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

More than 1,000 people poured into the Osage Centre on Sept. 11 to donate blood -- one of few things they could think to do to help the victims in New York and Washington, D.C.

By noon, when the drive was scheduled to begin, 195 people were already in line, the Southeast Missourian reported.

By 12:30 p.m., 325 people had arrived. People were not deterred by a three- to four-hour wait.

"The lines were out the doors," remembers American Red Cross Southeast Missouri chapter board member Cindie Yanow. "It was overwhelming. It really was. They didn't even think twice about it. That's why I love living in this area. People couldn't go get the bad guys, but they wanted to do something. They wanted to say 'I helped.'"

Many of those who came to blood drives that day and in the weeks that followed were first-time donors.

"You have to really be motivated to walk in and give a part of yourself like that," said Mary Burton Hitt, who served as executive director of the Southeast Missouri Red Cross from 1990 to 2006. She's now executive director of the SoutheastHEALTH Foundation.

The response from a shaken public was far greater than the actual need.

In September and October 2001, more than 600,000 pints of blood above normal collections were donated, the Government Accountability Office reported the following year. Fewer than 260 units were used to treat victims of the attacks, according to its report, and more than 200,000 units of blood had to be thrown away in the weeks following Sept. 11.

Yanow said the blood donated was used to help restock hospitals.

"We didn't know what would happen next," she said. "Survivors needed blood, we were there, the Red Cross is always there."

About half a dozen Southeast Missouri volunteers were dispatched to help victims of the attacks, said Burton Hitt. Some served in emergency response vehicles stationed at ground zero to provide water and food to workers at the World Trade Center site.

More than $250,000 was raised by the local chapter for the Red Cross' Liberty Fund, which was set up in response to the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

Much of the money was raised through the sale of flag magnets and T-shirts.

"It was so crazy. Everybody wanted these. We had to literally set up tables out in front of our office to handle all the people who were coming to buy them," Burton Hitt said.

Donations also poured in from local residents of all ages.

"It was overwhelming when you had children that were emptying out their piggy banks, setting up lemonade stands and bringing their pennies and nickels in to us," Burton Hitt said. "How wonderful that those parents supported that and instilled that in their children that this is the right thing to do."

There was an increase in both patriotism and volunteerism in the community following the events of Sept. 11, she said.

"You've often heard that good things come forth from very bad situations ... I had a front-row seat to experience the good of our country."

mmiller@semissourian.com

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