“It was one of those perfect days. I think that\u2019s what everyone remembers. And now whenever the day\u2019s too perfect and the sky\u2019s too blue, I think: what might happen?\u201d<\/p>\n
September 11, 2001. Lisa Siegman was in her first year as principal of Public School 3 (PS 3) in downtown Manhattan. Up on the fourth floor, the fifth-graders had a direct view down to the World Trade Center. \u201cThey had a perfect view of the towers,\u201d Lisa says. \u201cThe kids saw people jumping. People were running into the halls of the school, just doubled over.\u201d<\/p>\n
PS 3 was far enough away to escape evacuation. But children from two other schools, PS 150 and PS 89, which were closer to the devastation, were sent there for safety. \u201cPeople started converging on the school,\u201d says Lisa. \u201cWe had parents wanting to take their kids, parents wanting to help; we had only two working phone lines.\u201d By the afternoon the school had been identified as a potential site for a temporary morgue. Refrigerated trucks were lining up outside, along Hudson Street.<\/p>\n
On what was just the sixth day of the school term, more than 5,000 schoolchildren and 200 teachers had to run for their lives. But kids all across the city were affected \u2013 from those who heard the non-stop sirens of the fire engines and ambulances to those in quieter neighbourhoods, who watched replays of the strikes over and over and over on TV.<\/p>\n
By the end of that day the September 11th Fund had been established by two major local charities. Donations poured in. Money first went on immediate aid \u2013 hot meals for rescue workers, emergency cheques for victims and their families \u2013 and then funds were made available for programmes to help New Yorkers to recover. The damage wasn\u2019t only physical, but psychological. Counsellors set up services in local churches, and psychiatrists came from around the country to offer their expertise and their insights. Thoughts turned to the city\u2019s children \u2013 how would they deal with the stress and trauma?<\/p>\n