Linet Cruz’s mind could not accept what her eyes were seeing.
Working as a volunteer at the World Headquarters of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Brooklyn, New York, she could see the North Tower of the World Trade Center on fire from the window. She immediately called her husband, Julio. He was at home sleeping because he was ill. Then, she saw the second plane hit the South Tower. “Shock was the initial reaction,” she said. “It seemed like it was a movie. It was a big shock.”
In the chaos that followed, Julio and Linet, now residents of Katy, Texas, recall the fear and panic they felt because they had family that lived and worked in Manhattan. Twenty years after 9/11, neither has forgotten what got them through the days that followed: prayer and Bible reading. “We felt like God was with us, comforting us, helping us with the anxiety, the fears,” Linet said.
Relief also came from reaching out to help others who were struggling as they were.
“We shared with neighbors the comfort that the Bible brings,” Julio said. “That definitely helped us a lot.”
The ministry that they had shared in for years as Jehovah’s Witnesses took on a new role for them and many others. “It really helped me keep going,” Linet said. “Having just one conversation with someone was so encouraging. It reinforced hope in me.”
Helping others has long been linked to better emotional well-being in psychology research. The book “The Healing Power of Doing Good: The Health and Spiritual Benefits of Helping Others” describes “powerful” effects, even for helpers who have experienced trauma themselves.
Trauma was all too common among the many volunteers at Ground Zero. Roy Klingsporn, a Brooklynite who volunteered at Ground Zero nearly every day for two months, recalled on one occasion approaching a man who sat slouched in a golf cart near the site’s makeshift morgue.
“When I asked him how he was doing, he burst into tears,” said Klingsporn, now of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. “He said, ‘I’m tired of picking up body parts.’”
Within days of the attacks, Jehovah’s Witnesses set up teams that spent hours each day in Lower Manhattan, Bible in hand, consoling everyone from the families of victims to first responders battling physical and emotional exhaustion. It was a work that changed how the organization approaches disasters, with an organized comfort ministry now being an integral part of its response to natural disasters, and even to the pandemic.
Recalling the gut-wrenching days he spent as one of those volunteers near the smoldering remains of the Twin Towers still stirs deep feelings in Robert Hendriks.“It was very emotional and extremely difficult for me, but the faces of those I passed on the street said it all,” said Hendriks, now U.S. spokesman for the Witnesses. “They needed comfort, and the best thing I could give them was a hug and a scripture.”
For Brown “Butch” Payne, the events of September 11, 2001, tore open old wounds, bringing back vivid wartime memories the Vietnam veteran had tried to forget.
From his East Village apartment, Payne recalled the crowds of frantic people streaming north from Lower Manhattan. “That sight stirred up a lot of emotions in me,” he said. “It shook me to the core.”
Payne found relief in rendering aid the best way he knew how. “Sharing the Bible’s message of hope softened the blow for me,” he said.
Offering a shoulder to cry on brought Klingsporn comfort too. “It was satisfying to be of help to my community,” he said.
Two decades later, the Cruzes continue to find comfort from reaching out — this time in talking with pandemic-stressed neighbors.
“We like to listen to people, to just ask how they’re doing. We like to share what has helped us as a couple,” Linet said. “As we help others, it helps us abundantly to stay strong in our faith,” Julio added, although they now do it through letters and telephone calls instead of going door to door. Jehovah’s Witnesses paused their in-person preaching in response to the pandemic in March 2020.
Payne feels the same. In 2016, after 50 years of marriage, he lost his beloved wife to cancer. On days when his grief feels overwhelming, Payne writes heartfelt letters that lift his neighbors’ spirits — and his own. He shares scriptures and resources that have helped him, like articles on coping with trauma and loss on jw.org, the official website of Jehovah’s Witnesses.
“Encouraging others to look to the future helps me to do the same,” he said.