Letter from Fifteenth Street Monthly Meeting

Fifteenth Street Monthly Meeting
of the Religious Society of Friends

15 Rutherford Place, New York, NY 10003
Telephone (212)475-0466

10/14/2001

Dear Friends,

We write to express our deep gratitude for the many expressions of loving concern received by Fifteenth Street Monthly Meeting, from Friends and meetings far and near, in the weeks following the attack on the World Trade Center.

By the grace of God, none of us at Fifteenth Street Meeting, or neighboring meetings, were killed or injured in the attack (at least so far as we at Fifteenth Street know), though it's safe to say that we've all been shaken by it. To tell of individual Friends' narrow escapes, forced evacuation from homes close to the Towers, and involvement in rescue and relief work, would be premature; we've only begun to hear one another's stories. Many of us may feel, too, like downplaying what we ourselves have done and seen, awed by the terrible majesty of what must have been done and seen by those that died on that day, especially those that gave their lives trying to save others. Nonetheless it's been remarked repeatedly how glad everyone seems to remain alive, and to find their loved ones and neighbors still among the living; near ground zero we seem to share a sense of having been spared, and a gratitude for the gift of ongoing life.

With that sense of wonder and gratitude goes a searching, questioning attitude as we Friends ask what we as a Meeting and as a Society are now called to do for the city and the world around us. We ask for God's guidance in this, and your continued prayers for us. It is good to know that you are our Friends.

In friendship,

John Edminster, Recording Clerk
for the Fifteenth Street Monthly Meeting