AmeriCorps VISTAs Honor Local First Responders with National Day of Service Project

On September 11, 2001, between 8:45 and 8:50 a.m., a mid-air collision forever memorialized that date in American history, making it a day of remembrance, prayer and reflection.
 
September 11 has also become a National Day of Service, an opportunity for all Americans to come together to honor the lives lost in 2001 as well as those still serving the public as first responders.
 
This year, AmeriCorps VISTA members in the Dubuque community participated in several service projects for September 11. AmeriCorps VISTA is a volunteer program under the Corporation for National and Community Service in which volunteers serve nonprofit organizations in full-time positions for one year. The program aims to provide capacity building for the nonprofits and to help those individuals living in poverty across the United States.
 
As a local sponsor organization for this year’s VISTA program, the Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque (CFGD) supports VISTAs serving at the Foundation, Opening Doors, St. Vincent de Paul, and beginning in November, Crescent Community Health Center.  For their National Day of Service Project, these VISTA volunteers elected to host and serve a lunch at Fire Engine Co. 4 in honor of the many emergency responders lost on 9/11.
 
On September 11, 2014, firefighters Tom Ludescher, Julie Mueller, Rob Klaren, Mike Kuhn and Derek Paulson gathered for the meal in the kitchen at Fire Engine Co. 4. Like most Americans, they all remember vividly where they were when the attacks took place in 2001. Derek Paulson was not yet a full-time firefighter on 9/11, but that day changed him. “It made me want to do it sooner,” he says.
 
They also knew the attacks would change not only the country but also the way that first responders do their jobs.  According to Paulson and Kuhn, many procedures and safety policies were put in place immediately following 9/11 to ensure swift reactions and enhanced protection for service people and citizens.
 
September 11 also changed the way many of the emergency personnel view their own jobs.
“I think about what they lost,” Mueller says solemnly, relating to her fellow firefighters on the East Coast. “If that happened here, there wouldn’t be anything left.”
 
While Americans frequently view all emergency responders, whether retired or on active duty, as heroes, Fire Engine Co. 4 doesn’t see it quite that way.
 
“It’s normal for us now. It’s what we do,” says Ludescher.
 
“It is nice to see the gratitude,” adds Mueller. “But if this is your passion, you just act, you just do it.”