By:laura lane mervosh
"My brother Wade was attending a conference at Windows on The World that day," Green said. "When Roz told me about the quilt, I thought that it would be a group of patches put together, not something with messages from the kids. It's very impressive."
"The Quilt of Angels," a labor of love created by the students, faculty and administration at Barnum Woods includes 175 pieces of student art and written tributes, which border a list of the names of civilians who died Sept. 11. The center of the quilt is filled with an array of five-point, gold stars for each fallen hero.
Many visitors have come to Barnum Woods to see the quilt. Principal Peter Valente said that, at the recent budget election, hundreds of families stood silently in front of the quilt.
"Many had tears in their eyes, and I saw a couple of firefighters looking for a friend's name," Valente said. "Some people asked if they could come back when no one was around to get a more personal look at it."
A unique piece of artwork, the quilt has stirred interest among members of the East Meadow community. The President of the United States has taken an interest as well.
"We chose 10 pictures [that the students had made] and, after putting them onto the material, sent them to D.C.," third-grade teacher and coordinator Susan Pepper said. "President Bush and the First Lady said that they would sign them. When we receive them back, we will put them onto the quilt, replacing the identical unsigned picture with the signed picture."
Pepper originated the idea of making the quilt. She had known some of the rescue workers who died in the tragedy, and her feelings of grief, coupled with her students' many questions, led her to search for a way to pay homage to those who were lost.
"The kids talked about the tragedy every day and kept asking if we were going to be attacked," Pepper said. "I felt that they needed to do something."
After sending a general thank-you note from the children to the rescue workers, Pepper spoke to her class about making a quilt. She encouraged children to write poetry, letters or draw pictures with the stipulation that children do their own work, in their own handwriting. It was not a required project, but two months later, nearly all of her students contributed. Impressed, Pepper spoke to other teachers and decided to open the project to the entire student body. She received 200 pieces of artwork. She said that 90 percent of them are now on the quilt.
"The making of the quilt took on a life of its own," Valente, the principal, said. "It turned out to be a centerpiece [for what] we have encouraged in our children -- a centerpiece for caring, empathy and patriotism."
After receiving all of the artwork from students, Pepper scanned the pictures onto material at home, cut them down and sewed them into strips. As the quilt increased in size, Pepper realized that she would need a bigger space to finish assembling it. She brought her sewing machine into school, and together, the
teachers, staff and children sewed it. All work was done before or after school, with some children threading needles, while others quilted, or helped with the actual sewing. Teachers and administrators helped as well using free time during the day to sew.
"My kids gave up playmates to sew the quilt," parent and co-coordinator Susan Lombardi said. "They came in as early as 7:30 a.m. to work on it, and I never had to encourage them to leave early [from home]. They'd ask me each day if we were going in to sew."
Thirty to 40 children helped to sew the quilt. Some were there every day. Third-grader Stephen Diaz lost his uncle, a firefighter, on Sept. 11. He helped a great deal to assemble the quilt, and contributed a thank-you note that was chosen to be included. Fourth-graders Samantha Rifkin and Randy Camhi were often seen helping too, and fourth-grader Christopher Rupolo was present every day.
"Christopher would read the stories and poems, and you could see in his face that it made him feel good about being a part of making the quilt," Pepper said. "All the kids were proud to have contributed with something that will be around."
Pepper hand-embroidered the name, rank and
borough of each rescue worker in black letters onto the 453 stars at the center of the quilt. She did extensive research to ensure the correct titles and spelling of each hero's name. To be sure that she had all of the civilians' names spelled correctly, she spent hours calling the morgue. Pepper was also able to get hold of patches from the Port Authority, Police, FireFighters, EMS, Secret Service, FBI and Court Officers (to represent the dogs that were lost in the rescue effort). The patches were included on the quilt.
There has been a great deal of interest in
displaying "The Quilt of Angels." The Nassau County Firefighters Museum (scheduled to open soon at Mitchel Field soon), has offered to make it a permanent display, and the quilt may be displayed temporarily at the Capitol Building in Albany. Valente said that Barnum Woods is hoping that in future it will be included at the final memorial site for the WTC. Meantime, the Long Island Children's Museum will display at the end of June.
On June 17 at 9:45 a.m., there will be a ceremony at Barnum Woods to honor those lost on Sept. 11 with the quilt as the centerpiece. Many dignitaries are expected, as well as representatives from each group of rescue workers and members of the East Meadow community. Anyone who attends will be able to read third-grader Daniel Yanofsky's letter "to the heroes of America" in which he offers to lend his detective set to help solve the case. They can also see 10-year-old Faryl Loew's
drawing of a 38-cent postage stamp for the unnoticed heroes, which includes the two rescue dogs that died Sept. 11. Or they can read a poem by third-grader Jasmine Campos:
"The People"
"My life has melted because of that Sept. day,
On 9/11 when the Twin Towers went away,
A lot of people lost their lives on that day,
The angels of those very special people will never go away. The Twin Towers might be apart,
But those special people who died will never leave our hearts."
