Page 16: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (October 2001)

WTC Disaster people visited the Institute every four hours to obtain food, a cup of coffee, or to just have a place to rest

Getting it Together

On the morning of September 11, executive director Rev. Larom was returning from Houston, Texas. In fact, he was traveling over the Williamsburg

Bridge from Brooklyn into Manhattan when he saw a plane hit World Trade

Center One. He immediately abandoned his car on the bridge and walked across into Manhattan's lower East side, mak- ing his way over to the Institute. When he arrived, the building — and the entire downtown area — was in the process of being evacuated. Rev. Larom however

A flag donated by the Edwin J. 0' Hara chap- ter of American Merchant Marine Veterans hangs in SCI's foyer, as staff and volunteers organize relief supplies for distribution to emergency workers. (Photo Credit: Preston

Merchant, SCI). stayed behind, keeping in touch with

George Benjamin, the Institute's Direc- tor, who agreed with Rev. Larom that the Institute should come through once again, serving as a relief center for res- cue workers. And by 2 p.m., Tuesday,

September 11, the Institute took on that role once again.

Even as New York City resembled a ghost town on that day, SCI was abuzz with activity, as Rev. Larom said that by the next morning, there was a constant stream of people who visited the relief center on Water St., as well as two aux- iliary posts set up through the Institute at nearby St. Paul's Church on Fulton St. and Broadway, and at One Liberty

Plaza.

A Tragedy Hits Home

While this tragedy has hit a spot in the hearts of those involved in the shipping community, the task of getting one of the nation's premier and historic ports back in business is a top priority. The

NY/NJ Port Authority's headquarters were located in one of the Towers, which are now just piles of rubble wait- ing to be transported via tugboats to

Fresh Kills Landfill on Staten Island.

Aside from being a dealt a jolting finan- cial blow in trying to establish itself as the hub port of the Eastern Seaboard, the Port Authority was dealt with a per- sonal tragedy as well — Neil Levin, the

Authority's executive director, is still regarded as one of the missing. "This will hit the port industry very hard,"

Rev. Larom said. "It's a huge setback, which will cripple the industry. There- fore we must link together and get behind the efforts of Port Commerce

Director, Rick Larrabee, (who is also an SCI board member,) to re-establish the Port." He added: "While this disas- ter affects the financial industry, it also affects the maritime industry — the Port

Authority is the agency that we relate to as shipping people."

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