September 11th is a day that I will never forget for multiple reasons.

I remember it because of the tragic events that took place that day and I remember it because of the work that my mom did during relief efforts with the Salvation Army at Ground Zero in the months following that fateful day.

Today, on September 11, 2022, 21 years after that horrific day, I sit in a Wal-Mart parking lot in Antigo, Wisconsin to start writing this blog while waiting for Sandy to get our supplies for the next two weeks.  Once she gets back to the RV, we’ll head a few miles down the road to meet our friends from A Year to Volunteer (Y2V) and prepare for a two-week volunteer project at the Raptor Education Group (REGI).

I find it ironically fitting that we are preparing for a volunteer project on September 11th.

I remember September 11, 2001 like it was yesterday.  I was at a car dealership in Robesonia, Pennsylvania purchasing a new Dodge Dakota pick-up truck when a plane flew into the first tower of the World Trade Center.  Before the transaction was complete, the second tower had been hit, the Pentagon had been hit, and a load of heroes had stormed the cockpit of a fourth plane and sacrificed their lives for their county by crashing it into a field in Somerset, Pennsylvania as opposed to its intended target in Washington, DC.

By the time I got home, Sandy and our son, Jimmy were already there because their employers had sent them home early.  We watched the news in awe of what had happened, trying to process it all.  Not knowing for sure what the future may hold.  So, whenever I hear the Alan Jackson song, “Where were You,” I can easily remember where I was that day when the world stopped turning.

As I mentioned previously, in addition to always remembering September 11th for the tragic events that took place on that day in 2001, it’s a date and set of numbers that will forever remind me of my mother.

Receiving the phone call from her a few months after that tragic day to tell me that she was going to be heading to Ground Zero to volunteer with relief efforts through the Salvation Army is another event that I will never forget.  Her plan was to give three months, but she ended up staying over six months.

We went up to New York to visit her on Mother’s Day of 2002.  We met her at her little camper that she had parked along the side of the road in the city.  The Port Authority Police created a special patrol route to go past her camper several times throughout the day to make sure that her and the camper were always safe and secure.  She took us places that day in which we never would have been able to go to if wasn’t for her Salvation Army badge.  The experience was sobering to say the least.  She took us back to the Salvation Army tent where she was volunteering for lunch and to introduce us to her other volunteer friends.  I remember that very few people called her Loretta, just about everyone called her Mom.  She introduced me and my brother as her “real kids.”  She had such a sense of pride in her voice and in her eyes when she introduced us to her friends, yet we were all so much prouder of what she was doing than what she was of us, and rightly so.  This was my mom in her purest element – helping others in whatever way she could.

As far back as I can remember, that’s what my mom did – she gave of herself in whatever way she could.  Volunteering at the Little League concession stand, Meals on Wheels, Hurricane Relief, or just helping a friend, that’s what she did.  It seemed to be what fulfilled her the most.

It’s her influence on me that made me give back as I became an adult.  It seemed like the natural thing to do as I entered adulthood.

Even though I thought that I truly understood what she got out of it throughout my 30 years of volunteering and running a youth nonprofit sports organization, I really didn’t completely grasp it until we started traveling and volunteering.

It’s one thing to give back and be involved in a community which you live in, but it’s a totally different level of fulfilment to show up somewhere for a few weeks with a group of like-minded people, roll up your sleeves and get dirty working to build something and then move on.  It is truly selfless labor at that point.  There’s a line in the Brett Dennen song, “See the World” that says, “…now I’m planting trees I’ll never climb.”  That line encompasses everything there is to know about selfless giving.

Our first experience with this, ironically occurred on September 11, 2020, within our first month of living full-time in our RV.  We unexpectedly found ourselves at the Dream Center, a faith-based drug and alcohol rehabilitation center in Beaumont, Texas volunteering for a few days.  From there, we ventured over to Sulphur, Vinton, and Lake Charles, Louisiana to help with hurricane relief efforts from Hurricane Laura.  Seeing the appreciation of people when you come in from out of town to lend a hand is something special.  I was starting to have a better understanding of why my mom felt so fulfilled when she traveled half way across the state of Florida to help with hurricane relief or all the way up the east coast to volunteer at Ground Zero, but there was still more for me to learn.

That final lesson took place immediately following our one-year anniversary of living full-time in our RV when we showed up in the very same town of Antigo, Wisconsin that I am currently sitting in now.

From August 15-20, 2021 we volunteered on our first A Year to Volunteer project at the Raptor Education Group.  It took place about two weeks after we had visited the 9/11 Flight 93 Memorial in Somerset, Pennsylvania, so another reminder of the volunteer work that my mom did was still fresh in my memory.  The project at REGI was an experience like none other.  It gave us a new purpose in our full-time RV lifestyle.  We knew when we started this new chapter that we wanted to volunteer, but we really weren’t sure how we go about getting involved with things.  The Dream Center and Hurricane Laura relief we kind of fell into, but had no idea how to find new opportunities.

I had done a podcast with Phil and Shar Roos, the founders of Y2V in April of 2021 and we were passing through the Wisconsin area while they’d be doing the project at REGI.  I reached out to see if we might be able to jump in during the second week of the project, and things worked out that we were able to.

That experience forever changed our lives.  We met so many incredible people on that project from all over the country who have become dear friends.  I remember my mom telling me about trips that she’d take to Nova Scotia, Ohio, and many other places to reconnect with people that she had volunteered with at Ground Zero, hurricane relief projects and many other Salvation Army ventures.  I thought it was neat, but again, never really understood the impact until we did our first Y2V project last August.

There is just something special about when you connect with people who are out there helping others and truly expect nothing in return.

Now in the age of social media we’re able to follow each other’s adventures and occasionally meet up with one another on our travels outside of projects.

We were blessed this past summer that two of our fellow volunteer couples were passing through Pennsylvania near our old hometown in which we were staying at all summer.  So, when we were able to grab breakfast with Jeff and Susan Spencer and dinner with John and Karen Gailey.  Now I really understood why my mom loved taking those trips to reconnect with those who she had volunteered with at various projects.

Those bonds of friendship go so much deeper than even the work that we do.

When we arrived this afternoon at the RV Park where we’re staying at for the project, we already knew 15 of the other 17 volunteers on the project.  We were greeted with hugs and smiles and caught up on where everyone had been since we last saw them.  It was a special moment indeed.

Tomorrow when we see Marge Gibson, the founder of REGI again, it too will be a very special moment.

We’re not here again just to do another project at REGI for Y2V, we’re now here with a group of friends to help out another friend.

The fact that we arrived here on September 11, reminding me of the volunteer work that my mom dedicated her life to, makes it even better.  It gives me a better understanding of our purpose and an even deeper admiration of my mom’s.

It’s a special feeling, it’s that feeling and understanding that we’re “planting trees that we’ll never climb.”