DRU NADLER DRU NADLER
After 9/11, Mikki Baloy Davis decided life is “too fragile.” She began pursuing her love of the healing arts after her work with Lutheran Disaster Response of New York was completed.
JIM WEST
Cherlyne Beck keeps a basket with reminders of 9/11. She says 9/11 is a “big part of my life and who I am.”
LDRNY was founded by then- synod bishop Stephen Bouman and David Benke, LCMS Atlantic Dis- trict president. The two envisioned a unique pan-Lutheran organization based in New York that could more readily administer the millions of dollars that poured into the Lutheran churches after 9/11. LDRNY was so successful in its mission that it became a model of a faith-based agency, recog- nized for its joint partnership between the ELCA and LCMS, and lauded as a leader in the faith community. When LDRNY ended in Decem- ber 2008, it was one of the last 9/11-related organizations to close, years after many government agen- cies had stopped their operations. It distributed more than $9 million and helped thousands of people affected by 9/11, said Mikki Baloy Davis, director of operations. Originally in the synod offices uptown, LDRNY
moved to a building overlooking ground zero in 2003. LDRNY was able to respond to
victims’ needs beyond available gov- ernment assistance, said Baloy Davis. It helped pay for mortgages, buy gro- ceries and fund medical expenses or school tuition.
“The church had a special kind of fluidity and flexibility in helping so many different kinds of people ... and a good reputation in New York City,” she said. “We did everything with as much transparency as possible, with faithful integrity, always making sure the stories of survivors were told and that no one was forgotten.” A survivor herself, Baloy Davis recalls grabbing granola bars and a piece of cloth to cover her mouth as she ran down the steps of her office building near ground zero in the hours following the attack. Like so many, she was transformed by her experience. Once an aspiring actress who went from one casting call to another while struggling to pay bills, she decided after 9/11 that life was too fragile. She pursued her love
Thomas E. Taylor, an ELCA pastor, was profoundly changed by the events of 9/11. His work as a chaplain at ground zero led him to get a master’s degree in counseling.
of healing arts, and today is a Peruvian shamanic healer.
Shared grief Thomas E. Taylor, interim pastor of St. John Lutheran Church, Linden- hurst, N.Y. (Long Island), was also profoundly changed by the events. As part-time chaplain at ground zero, he counseled first-responders who brought bodies to the morgue. His work was so rewarding that he went on to get a master’s degree in counsel- ing. Today he works as a pastor and counselor, including work with those affected by 9/11.
“[This] anniversary is a major reminder of the terror and trauma of what happened. ... It doesn’t disap- pear, especially for people who lost people. It is a shared and collective type of grief that is deeply personal and will be with us forever,” he said. People from nearly 100 countries were lost, and one of the lessons learned from 9/11 has been tolerance, he added.
No one knows that better than Khader N. El-Yateem, pastor of Salam Arabic Lutheran Church in Brooklyn, N.Y. Members of Salam were in the
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