In the wake of the deadliest terrorist attack in U.S. history, it appears the only public desire more popular than to punish the perpetrators is to thank those who risked their lives to save others.
Stisha Steigman, a second-grade Hebrew and Judaica teacher at the Milwaukee Jewish Day School, said she particularly wanted to have her school do something to honor the heroes of Sept. 11.
“I was going to be going to New York [City] to visit my son. Once I knew I was going, I wanted to do something to represent the student body of MJDS, to bring a gift for firefighters representing the students,” she said.
But Steigman was at a loss as to what to give. So she went to see Marge Meyers, assistant director and general studies co-principal at MJDS, to get both her approval and her ideas.
Meyers suggested Steigman speak with Nina Edelman, the librarian at MJDS, because “I knew that Nina would take the idea and run with it. She is a very talented quilter, which she teaches in addition to being a librarian.”
Edelman had been to New York City the week before Steigman was slated to go. She recalled that when she visited ground zero, she “saw a lot of children’s [memorial] contributions done on paper, but because of the weather, they were getting worn and torn. I thought the fabric thing would make a much more lasting ‘thank you.’
“In the past I had made banners for the school…. We were doing a project using election themes and making little [American] flags … I had a lot of material left over. So, I was able to put together this banner that looked like an American flag. It was an idea that came to me quickly. I completed it in about three hours,” she said.
Main site ‘inundated’
The finished result was essentially an American flag ringed with smaller American flags. “Nina gave me the flag and all of my students signed their names, made some decorations and wrote some things in Hebrew on it,” said Steigman. “Even many teachers signed it.”
Steigman visited New York City during the last weekend of October. Her original intention was to bring the flag to one of the fire stations in lower Manhattan, near ground zero. But MJDS parent and local firefighter Carter Hunnicutt suggested Steigman visit a fire station in upper Manhattan instead.
“I was going to go down to the main site, but [Hunnicutt] said they are so inundated with well-wishers that I should choose a smaller fire station that lost people but was not getting as much attention,” said Steigman.
The fire station she chose was Engine Company #47 in Manhattan’s Upper West Side. With the flag, many cards, letters and boxes of fruits and nuts from MJDS, Steigman went with MJDS Jewish studies intern Amy Fink — who was in New York visiting friends that weekend — to the station to deliver the gifts.
“It was just one fireman that greeted us and he seemed very moved,” recalled Fink. “It was a look in his eyes. He didn’t know what to say, we didn’t know what to say, but you could see the appreciation. It was a good feeling to go in there and hand them things our students made.”
Steigman agreed. “I rang the doorbell and the fireman that opened the door was very, very moved. He asked questions about the day school and accepted the flag and gifts. He himself then displayed the flag on the front of the fire engine.”
“He was speechless,” she added. “He kept saying ‘I don’t believe it,’ then we’d give him more stuff and he’d say, ‘I can’t believe it, oh my.’”
Steigman said it was a “need” of hers to do something for one of the fire departments. “It made me feel proud and emotional and I was very thankful for that.”
She said the fireman asked for the address of the day school, but “I said, ‘We don’t want thank-yous.’”
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