September 11, 2001, was a special day at the Christoph House. Our oldest child, who is now 28, was heading to her first day of preschool that beautiful Tuesday with the clear blue skies and seasonal temperatures, and all of us were equal parts excited and nervous. Would her teachers love her like their own and take good care of her?
Two-hundred-and-fifty miles to the north of us, other families were going through a similar routine, getting their babies, toddlers, and preschoolers ready for a day in a childcare center in the building known as World Trade Center 5, which was a mere hundred yards from the Twin Towers in lower Manhattan.
The story of what happened to the staff and children at Children’s Discovery Center on 9/11 was a new one for me. Just when I thought I had heard every possible angle of that horrible day, along comes this tale of ordinary women performing extraordinary acts of heroism to save the dozens of kids in their care.
A new documentary (embedded below) tells the entire story in vivid detail, starting with the staff hearing a strange boom above them and ending with the group split in two and finding refuge at area hospitals and churches.
What happened in between is a story of grit, compassion, and the will to survive.
The morning started off like any other, with parents – many of whom worked in the World Trade Center – dropping off their children and teachers getting the kids settled in for the day. Around 8:46 AM, teacher Tara Jones recalled hearing a strange sound overhead, followed almost immediately by chaos. It was the sound of American Airlines Flight 11 slamming into the North Tower.
Jones didn't hesitate to act, scooping up the kids in her room, and screaming, “Emergency, emergency, we gotta go, we gotta go!”
Acting purely on instinct, the staff picked up the babies, grabbed toddlers by the hand, found a few paltry emergency supplies, and moved all 40 of their charges out in the chaotic streets of New York City.
It was pandemonium, the teachers remember. They each carried one or two of the children, often with a third ordered to hold on tight to the teachers' clothing.
The group split in two as they fled north, with one headed toward the water and the other toward a church.
One group, which included teacher Onica Sarjeant, fled toward the pier and then kept moving north through Lower Manhattan. They eventually reached a supermarket, where workers gave them water and crackers and let them use shopping carts to carry the babies and toddlers. Sarjeant and two fellow teachers walked roughly three miles with their group before deciding to look for a church, thinking it would be a safe haven. They found one, and the church took them in.
The other group, which included teacher Tara Jones, ran toward City Hall and eventually made its way to St. Clare’s Hospital. Jones recalled carrying two children while another clung to her clothing as they fled. At St. Clare’s, the hospital gave them a room and cribs for the children; hospital staff also contacted the news media so desperate parents could be reunited with their children. One mother, Supurna VedBrat, finally found her 18-month-old son there around 4 PM.
World Trade Center 5 was badly damaged and eventually demolished; falling debris from the collapse of the Twin Towers has buried the classrooms at the Children’s Discovery Center in debris, chunks of metal, and ash. The classrooms were gone, but the children survived because the teachers and staff treated, just like I had hoped for my daughter, like their own.
The documentary is about 20 minutes long and well worth the watch.
