Local woman makes weekly trips to WTC with needed donations
By: Brian Shappell
Several local businesses are still sending their best to the police and fireman at ground zero in the form of bagels, pizza and entrees.
Township eateries Pierre’s Restaurant, the Bagel Exchange and the Dayton Diner are among a few businesses donating food to Dayton resident, Suzan Vitti, who has been bringing supplies to rescue workers in lower Manhattan for five months.
"She just came in one day and asked if I was interested in donating bagels and I said surely why not?" said Bagel Exchange owner Dan Gibbons. "I didn’t even know her name in the beginning. I just knew her as the ground zero lady."
Entenmann’s Bakery in Edison and the Bagel Express in Franklin also have made donations as well as Nino’s Pizza and Wal-Mart in North Brunswick and the Acme in Milltown.
"We’re all just trying to do what we can," Mr. Gibbons said. "Anyway we can help, you know. We all know somebody that was affected directly or indirectly."
Ms. Vitti, a Dayton resident, began making weekly volunteer trips to ground zero with donations of food and medical supplies less than 48 hours after the World Trade Center fell in September.
Her trips to the zone on Thursdays and Sundays with a shopping cart full of supplies, such as doughnuts, cough drops and Visine, earned Ms. Vitti the affectionate nickname "The Shopping Cart Medical Lady."
Her efforts also have earned her letters of commendation from the Port Authority Police Department, the New York Police Department, the Fire Department of New York and the U.S. military, as well as about 150 official collar brass pins, usually worn on the uniforms of police officers and firefighters.
The continued donations from local businesses have been vital to Ms. Vitti’s volunteer efforts because she has no source of funding to purchase supplies for aid workers. Weekly donations from the Bagel Exchange of 10 to 15 dozen bagels; a first-time donation of 12 pizzas from the Dayton Diner owners; and Pierre’s donations of individual butter servings, wrapped bagels, pastries, cakes and trays of hot food have not gone unnoticed by the ground zero workers.
In fact, many of the rescue workers requested the opportunity to meet some of the generous locals. As a result, Ms. Vitti brought Pierre’s owner Pierre Hageboutros along for a Thursday night run last month.
"I wanted to show Pierre where his donations were going," Ms. Vitti said. "The guys were like, ‘You got a donator, bring him in.’ They were great to him They’re so appreciative of everything."
Mr. Hageboutros was on his way to ground zero with Ms. Vitti at 6 p.m. and stayed until after 1 a.m. During his stay, police gave the him a tour of the site and introduced him to dozens of volunteers.
Mr. Hageboutros said he was glad that he had the opportunity to go to the site and meet the workers.
"I met all the people we were sending food to," he said. "They were very nice, friendly people. They were willing to show you almost everything. It was a beautiful and emotional thing to see people pulling together there."
Mr. Hageboutros said the experience of being there was spiritually moving and one that called for prayer. He said such tragic occurrences were all too common over the last three decades in his native country, Lebanon.
"I really feel for those people because my country was under attack through the same kinds of acts," said Mr. Hageboutros. "So many innocent people have died. I went (to ground zero) to stand and take a few minutes to pray for the people who lost their lives to share time."
Mr. Hageboutros said being there for an evening gave him a greater respect for the rescue workers and for Ms. Vitti.
"I’m very impressed at that girl," Mr. Hageboutros said. "She loads her stuff and goes to New York and gives service to the departments making sure everyone gets what he needs. It’s a good feeling to see someone dedicate that kind of time and effort to help."
Though businesses like Pierre’s, the Bagel Exchange and Entenmann’s have continued with large amounts of donations, Ms. Vitti said she is having trouble keeping up with the demand for items. She said donations have declined as time has passed.
"It’s really sad because these guys are still working in the dirt and retrieving bodies," Ms. Vitti said. "I just want to get stuff to the those guys in the zone. These contributions are really going to a special place."
Ms. Vitti is still accepting donations such as cough drops, sucking candy, chocolate candy, gum and Tic Tacs at Pierre’s, located near the intersection of Georges Road and Kingston Lane in Dayton and at the Bagel Exchange, located at 365 Georges Road in Dayton.