Twenty years after Sept. 11, 2001, former and current members of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department are sharing their experiences of hope in the days that followed the attack in New York.
Bob Wank, a retired sheriff’s sergeant, worked alongside his K9 partner Aris in the search for human remains. Looking back, he remembered how it felt to see people from all over the country come together.
“They put aside their opinions, or their thoughts, or what have you and there was one goal,” he said. “And that was to locate victims, search the rubble for victims.”
At the time, Kathleen Koolman was new to her role as chief chaplain at OCSD. She and her daughter Jamie Canett, who is now a deputy, volunteered to help at Ground Zero.
“For me as a chaplain, the moments of hope came when I could see a flicker of light in people’s eyes again,” Koolman said.
Koolman’s daughter similarly said the camaraderie among Americans at Ground Zero was life-changing.
“Everybody was focused on helping everyone else,” she said. “The sense of community and the sense of love everybody had for each other was so strong.”
Canett said her volunteer experience then is what ignited a fire in her to help others and ultimately begin her career as a deputy.
Related
Related
