By Doug Graves © 2007
This week’s anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center provides the occasion for this story. It is the story one man’s struggle to survive and his need to find a deeper meaning to his life. It is the story of how one man faced unknown and fearful odds, summoned courage, focused on the needs of others, and brought himself and one other person through disaster to safety.
Whitehall High School graduate James Saganowich was a newly recruited employee of financial giant Morgan Stanley and was in the World Trade Center Building II to begin his new career with the Wall Street corporation. He and colleagues had taken a break from a training session and were going to breakfast in the lower levels of the building. It was Tuesday morning with a beautiful blue sky; however, from the mezzanine overlooking World Trade Center Building I he saw that the tower was “on fire and had debris falling from it.”
“Nobody seemed to know what had happened. There was a lot of speculation: bombs or helicopter or plane crashes were being considered. Then I heard the Port Authority order everyone out of the building and into the street.
“Still not realizing what had happened and having left my briefcase, wallet and phone on the sixty-first floor, I started back to get my stuff. I took the elevator back up to the meeting room where I had left them. When I got there the floor was eerily empty. As I walked down an empty hall two security guards ordered me to ‘Get the hell outta here.’ They escorted me to the stairwell and locked me into it.”
James Saganowich had grown up in Whitehall, Pennsylvania . After securing an appointment to the United States Military Academy he went to West Point for two years where he played football on the Army team. He transferred to Kutztown University and graduated in 1989 with a degree in Russian language. After selling securities in Florida and going through a divorce, he joined Morgan Stanley. They had just sent him to Manhattan for a training session with the firm.
Now, having been locked into the stairwell of a building and unaware of exactly what had happened, Saganowich still did not realize he was now in a desperate struggle for survival. “The stairwell was jammed with people walking down the thousands of steps to the street,” he said. “I was in no hurry and was still hoping to get out of the stairwell to go back and get my things.”
He slowly realized that something serious had happened to the building.
“We all knew something big was wrong. People started to panic. They were pushing and shoving. I was locked in a stairwell with a mob of frightened people. It was hot and dusty. Then I could smell kerosene. I began to grab people and try to calm them down. At about the fifty-ninth or fifty-eighth floor bloodied people with torn clothes started coming down. They had been in or above the impact zone where the airplane had struck the building. They were screaming and we stood aside to let them pass.
“Suddenly one of the women slammed into me as she came down the stairs. I grabbed her and kept her from falling. She looked in my eyes and said that we were going to die. I told her that it was ‘ok’ and that I would get her out.”
Saganowich, with the exhausted and fearful thirty-six year old woman, then began to focus on getting her through the stairway and into the street. Her name was Liz.
“She leaned more and more into me as we slowly moved down the stairs. The hot, humid air smelled of jet fuel,” he said. “Thank God I had Liz to focus on or I think I may have wigged out in there.
“We started to see firemen struggling up the stairwell as we went down. Seeing them soothed us and we started to feel safe for the first time in an hour. They were sweating in their gear as they climbed past us.
“We made in down the next thirty or so floors. People escorted us across the mall area. It was weird to see the huge empty space of the mall now devoid of people.
“We looked up at the smoke and fire. It seemed like miles up to where the fire was burning.
“We were safe.”
Saganowich and Liz were joined by Liz’s friend, Vanessa. Liz was worried about her missing fiancé, John, who had been in the building with her. People were now jumping from the burning building.
“I couldn’t watch,” said Saganowich. “I urged Liz and Vanessa to keep moving and we walked toward my hotel on the Upper East Side. We had walked about ten minutes when the tower collapsed. We saw a cloud of dust traveling toward us. Liz fell to the pavement, sure that John must be dead. We knew that people were dying, that the firemen and policemen were dying.
“I had no more positive words to motivate Liz. I had left them all in the building. I couldn’t say ‘John will be alright,’ not even one more time.
“I bent down and picked Liz up. I said nothing because you can’t say any thing to someone in that much pain that makes any sense. The three of us kept walking. Cars had stopped. People were standing in the street staring back at where the Trade Center had been. In Chinatown the people at a small tailor shop let Liz use their phone, but there was no news of John. Liz was silent and stared straight ahead.
“I used a pay phone to call my ex-wife in Florida and asked her to let my family know I was alright. Then we kept walking to my hotel on Seventy-Sixth Street. Fuzz Fetherolf, my childhood friend from Whitehall was there pacing on the street. We had earlier planned to meet at the hotel.”
“I still keep in touch with Liz. Her experience was different from mine. She lost half of the people in her company, but her fiancé, John did survive. She told me that she still has nightmares about that day. She told me recently that she wants to leave Manhattan.”
Saganowich was changed, too. He began to feel that somehow the financial industry was harming a lot of people around the world and that maybe it was contributing to the conditions that leave many people in despair. He felt that this might be empowering terrorists.
He is now a therapist in residency in Naples, Florida. He works for a non-profit community mental health facility in a chemical dependency unit. He is engaged now and though he makes a fraction of what he made working for a Wall Street financial company, it is enough. He is happy and still helps people in need. He is engaged to Debbie Gilmore and they plan to be married. Saganowich’s daughter, Taylor, also lives in Florida.
His mother, AnnJean Sarko, lives in Treasure Island, Florida near his brother, Jerry Saganowich, a retired professional wrestler. His sister, Lisa, lives in Boca, Florida. His father Jerome Saganowich, Senior is deceased.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Angels Are Where You Find Them.
By Doug Graves © 2007
Angels are where you find them. The problem is to recognize them when you see them. They seem so ordinary, so much like regular folks. Those at the St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church Food Pantry at 300 Mechanicsville Road in Whitehall didn’t have a set of wings in whole bunch.
Karen Schell is the director and has been volunteering there for the past five years. Schell operates the Food Pantry by appointment only. “We do that because if we advertise a particular day and are forced to change the date because a volunteer is not available, then we run the risk of people standing in line waiting for volunteers that won’t be there.” To get an appointment, call (610) 262-1264.
The range of clients who use the Food Pantry include the elderly, single moms raising children, cancer patients and the homeless.
They have plenty of food. They are well stocked in dry foods like cereals and pasta and have lots of canned goods. Bread is plentiful. Meat is sometimes available but their storage capability for fresh meat is very limited plus much of it comes from private donations that might or might not be available any given week.
“We get hamburger in one-pound packages,” said Schell. “We try to distribute it based on family size. For example, a family of three people gets a one-pound package. A family of over seven would get a three-pound package.”
They do similar rationing for chicken and turkey. “A family of three or more would get a turkey,” she said. “Smaller families get a chicken.”
Milk and eggs are not available through the Food Pantry.
“We have 60 to 80 families in here each week,” said Schell. “That’s about 300 people. Each family gets $75 to $100 worth of food each visit.
“Families also get to choose what they want,” she said. In the past volunteers would bag up a set of grocery items and issue them to a family, but that changed under Schell’s direction.
Paper goods are something that St. Stephen’s Food Pantry provides. They have paper towels and toilet paper. This class of supplies cannot be purchased with food stamps in a retail store.
“Once in a while we have fresh vegetables if parishioners bring them in,” said Schell. Otherwise potatoes, corn and other vegetables are not available.
Like any food store, the Food Pantry gets inspected by the government. Since the township has no health department this is done by the state or the federal authorities. One of the requirements is that no food be stored on the floor.
Eagle Scout Michael Siegmund, as part of his Eagle Scout service project, built grocery shelves on wheels. The moveable shelves not only keep food off the floor but facilitate movement of food around the small efficiency-style apartment that the church has allocated for use by the Food Bank.
Doreen Wagner, a parishioner and one of the volunteers, is there when needed. “I feel I’ve been called to help,” she said.
Dottie Lesavoy and Scott Heefner pitch in. “I’m part of the vestry of the church,” said Heefner. “This is just one of the things I do to be active in the church.” Heefner drives a forklift for Moyer Lumber in Bethlehem. He has been volunteering for the past three months.
Donna Scott from Egypt said, “I was a client. Now I come here to volunteer.” Her assistant angel is her 21-year old daughter, Jennifer. They both are committed to helping feed the hungry.
While supervising the scheduling of volunteers and buying the food, Schell also volunteers her time. A woman of seemingly boundless energy, she also has a busy, full-time career as the national sales manager for an equine products company, Straight Arrow Products, Inc. She gets help in her Food Pantry duties from her assistant angel, daughter Denise Herman.
Schell’s impulse to give of herself seems limitless. Once she took an abused woman home with her until better arrangements could be made. She has been known to give her personal phone number to lonely elderly folks so they could “have someone to talk to.”
Their mission is to provide food for the needy in and around Whitehall. They buy food through the Second Harvest Food Bank with offerings left in St. Stephen’s “Hunger Bowl” and from other money donated. Other groups are helping, too: the Lions Club, the Women’s Club and the church’s youth organizations. About 2,000 pounds of food is received from the Boy Scout’s and the Postal Service’s annual food drives.
“Because some of our parishioners are pet lovers and don’t want to see people’s pets go hungry,” said Schell, “they give us pet food which we can pass on to those who need it.” She emphasized that all pet food is donated directly by the parish’s pet lovers.
The urge to help extends to making sure that the children in needy families get a Christmas gift. With the cooperation of parishioners and a local bank, Schell’s volunteers coordinate a “sponsor a child” program to make sure that the kids have a gift under their Christmas trees.
To volunteer, call (610) 435-3901. Angel wings are not required, but will be issued in due time.
Angels are where you find them. The problem is to recognize them when you see them. They seem so ordinary, so much like regular folks. Those at the St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church Food Pantry at 300 Mechanicsville Road in Whitehall didn’t have a set of wings in whole bunch.
Karen Schell is the director and has been volunteering there for the past five years. Schell operates the Food Pantry by appointment only. “We do that because if we advertise a particular day and are forced to change the date because a volunteer is not available, then we run the risk of people standing in line waiting for volunteers that won’t be there.” To get an appointment, call (610) 262-1264.
The range of clients who use the Food Pantry include the elderly, single moms raising children, cancer patients and the homeless.
They have plenty of food. They are well stocked in dry foods like cereals and pasta and have lots of canned goods. Bread is plentiful. Meat is sometimes available but their storage capability for fresh meat is very limited plus much of it comes from private donations that might or might not be available any given week.
“We get hamburger in one-pound packages,” said Schell. “We try to distribute it based on family size. For example, a family of three people gets a one-pound package. A family of over seven would get a three-pound package.”
They do similar rationing for chicken and turkey. “A family of three or more would get a turkey,” she said. “Smaller families get a chicken.”
Milk and eggs are not available through the Food Pantry.
“We have 60 to 80 families in here each week,” said Schell. “That’s about 300 people. Each family gets $75 to $100 worth of food each visit.
“Families also get to choose what they want,” she said. In the past volunteers would bag up a set of grocery items and issue them to a family, but that changed under Schell’s direction.
Paper goods are something that St. Stephen’s Food Pantry provides. They have paper towels and toilet paper. This class of supplies cannot be purchased with food stamps in a retail store.
“Once in a while we have fresh vegetables if parishioners bring them in,” said Schell. Otherwise potatoes, corn and other vegetables are not available.
Like any food store, the Food Pantry gets inspected by the government. Since the township has no health department this is done by the state or the federal authorities. One of the requirements is that no food be stored on the floor.
Eagle Scout Michael Siegmund, as part of his Eagle Scout service project, built grocery shelves on wheels. The moveable shelves not only keep food off the floor but facilitate movement of food around the small efficiency-style apartment that the church has allocated for use by the Food Bank.
Doreen Wagner, a parishioner and one of the volunteers, is there when needed. “I feel I’ve been called to help,” she said.
Dottie Lesavoy and Scott Heefner pitch in. “I’m part of the vestry of the church,” said Heefner. “This is just one of the things I do to be active in the church.” Heefner drives a forklift for Moyer Lumber in Bethlehem. He has been volunteering for the past three months.
Donna Scott from Egypt said, “I was a client. Now I come here to volunteer.” Her assistant angel is her 21-year old daughter, Jennifer. They both are committed to helping feed the hungry.
While supervising the scheduling of volunteers and buying the food, Schell also volunteers her time. A woman of seemingly boundless energy, she also has a busy, full-time career as the national sales manager for an equine products company, Straight Arrow Products, Inc. She gets help in her Food Pantry duties from her assistant angel, daughter Denise Herman.
Schell’s impulse to give of herself seems limitless. Once she took an abused woman home with her until better arrangements could be made. She has been known to give her personal phone number to lonely elderly folks so they could “have someone to talk to.”
Their mission is to provide food for the needy in and around Whitehall. They buy food through the Second Harvest Food Bank with offerings left in St. Stephen’s “Hunger Bowl” and from other money donated. Other groups are helping, too: the Lions Club, the Women’s Club and the church’s youth organizations. About 2,000 pounds of food is received from the Boy Scout’s and the Postal Service’s annual food drives.
“Because some of our parishioners are pet lovers and don’t want to see people’s pets go hungry,” said Schell, “they give us pet food which we can pass on to those who need it.” She emphasized that all pet food is donated directly by the parish’s pet lovers.
The urge to help extends to making sure that the children in needy families get a Christmas gift. With the cooperation of parishioners and a local bank, Schell’s volunteers coordinate a “sponsor a child” program to make sure that the kids have a gift under their Christmas trees.
To volunteer, call (610) 435-3901. Angel wings are not required, but will be issued in due time.
"It made me realize how fortunate I am."
By Doug Graves © 2007
Almost 60 people of all ages were busy helping Santa last Thursday at the Holiday Inn Conference Center of the Lehigh Valley in Fogelsville. They were wrapping or sorting almost 2,000 toys, books and stuffed animals that had been donated by various groups and organizations, including the Marine Corps Reserve through their “Toys for Tots” program. Books were donated by the Cops ‘n’ Kids Children’s Literacy Program.
The Holiday Hope Chest Campaign donated 1,000 shoe boxes, wrapped and filled with a selection of small gifts.
“We haven’t bought a toy in five years,” said George Pitsilos, catering and sales manager at the hotel. “They are all donated.”
Eight high schoolers from Liberty High School pitched in. They represented the student government body demonstrating that most effective leadership trait—leading by example. “We are here to volunteer,” said Caroline Vail. “Just here to help.”
Mala Saha-Guzman, there with her family, said “We’re here to help out and to show our children its not just about getting gifts.” She was there with her husband Romulo and their children, Amaya, 7, and Ryan, eight and half.
Trevor McCleary, 14, was helping transport wrapped packages to the staging area. “I came to help people,” he said. “To help the community.” Trevor is a student at Orefield Middle School.
The same sentiment was expressed by Dickinson Law School student Christine Lombardo of Allentown. She was there with her children, Madison, 7, and Katie, four and a half. “I like to volunteer. This the first time for them . . . they wanted to volunteer.”
Working at the book table, other college students were busy. Duquesne University student Brigitte Gotzon was there. She is an ’06 graduate of Liberty High School. The University of Pittsburgh’s Carly Stasak was there—also a LHS ’06 grad.
Lauren Diehl from Susquehanna University was helping—another LHS Class of “06” alumna. Also sorting books was Emmaus High School’s Maddie Bean. Working across the room Rutgers University’s was Andre “Hoagie” Morales, also an ’06 grad of LHS.
The huge event room at the conference center was a hub of activity. Tables were surrounded by teams wielding scotch tape and wrapping paper. Others took wrapped packages to staging areas and sorted them into separate piles for boys and for girls and further sorted by age group.
Orchestrating this whirl of scissors, tape and brightly colored wrapping paper, Pitsilos kept the seemingly chaotic “happening” flowing smoothly. With his bull-horn and big smile he kept the group informed and directed supplies flowing to the tables. More wrapping paper here, more tape there, more presents to that table.
“I’ve been working for the company for 14 years,” said Pitsilos. “This event started 15 years ago. It made me realize how fortunate I am—it’s a humbling experience.” Pitsilos’ family participates. His daughter, Kayla, started when she was three years old. Now she is a fashion major at a New York City college.
Why all the gifts?
Sarah Kim, 11, was sitting on the floor and wrapping packages with her brother Joshua, 9 and her good friend, Emily Leonardo, 12. “Come back on Christmas Eve,” Sarah said. “Kids will sit on Santa’s lap and open presents.”
On Christmas Eve Pitsilos plans to feed over 4,000 people from around the Lehigh Valley. These guests have, for a large part, been selected by various homeless shelters and community action centers and they will be bused to the hotel by Trans-Bridge Lines—free.
Once at the hotel they will be honored guests. That’s right. 4,000 guests—not customers. The conference center is being decorated as though it were the social event of the season. Buffet lines will be overflowing with traditional holiday food, drink and sweets. The main course? Turkey, of course—240 of them donated by Jaindl Farms.
The names of some of the other people donating money and services seemed familiar. . . . philanthropist Linny Fowler . . . David Jaindl’s Jaindl Farms . . . hotelier Kostas Kalogeropoulos. These same names are linked to some other marvelous Lehigh Valley institutions: the Miracle League, leadership awards at SkillsUSA, Camelot for Kids-- to name a few.
Almost 60 people of all ages were busy helping Santa last Thursday at the Holiday Inn Conference Center of the Lehigh Valley in Fogelsville. They were wrapping or sorting almost 2,000 toys, books and stuffed animals that had been donated by various groups and organizations, including the Marine Corps Reserve through their “Toys for Tots” program. Books were donated by the Cops ‘n’ Kids Children’s Literacy Program.
The Holiday Hope Chest Campaign donated 1,000 shoe boxes, wrapped and filled with a selection of small gifts.
“We haven’t bought a toy in five years,” said George Pitsilos, catering and sales manager at the hotel. “They are all donated.”
Eight high schoolers from Liberty High School pitched in. They represented the student government body demonstrating that most effective leadership trait—leading by example. “We are here to volunteer,” said Caroline Vail. “Just here to help.”
Mala Saha-Guzman, there with her family, said “We’re here to help out and to show our children its not just about getting gifts.” She was there with her husband Romulo and their children, Amaya, 7, and Ryan, eight and half.
Trevor McCleary, 14, was helping transport wrapped packages to the staging area. “I came to help people,” he said. “To help the community.” Trevor is a student at Orefield Middle School.
The same sentiment was expressed by Dickinson Law School student Christine Lombardo of Allentown. She was there with her children, Madison, 7, and Katie, four and a half. “I like to volunteer. This the first time for them . . . they wanted to volunteer.”
Working at the book table, other college students were busy. Duquesne University student Brigitte Gotzon was there. She is an ’06 graduate of Liberty High School. The University of Pittsburgh’s Carly Stasak was there—also a LHS ’06 grad.
Lauren Diehl from Susquehanna University was helping—another LHS Class of “06” alumna. Also sorting books was Emmaus High School’s Maddie Bean. Working across the room Rutgers University’s was Andre “Hoagie” Morales, also an ’06 grad of LHS.
The huge event room at the conference center was a hub of activity. Tables were surrounded by teams wielding scotch tape and wrapping paper. Others took wrapped packages to staging areas and sorted them into separate piles for boys and for girls and further sorted by age group.
Orchestrating this whirl of scissors, tape and brightly colored wrapping paper, Pitsilos kept the seemingly chaotic “happening” flowing smoothly. With his bull-horn and big smile he kept the group informed and directed supplies flowing to the tables. More wrapping paper here, more tape there, more presents to that table.
“I’ve been working for the company for 14 years,” said Pitsilos. “This event started 15 years ago. It made me realize how fortunate I am—it’s a humbling experience.” Pitsilos’ family participates. His daughter, Kayla, started when she was three years old. Now she is a fashion major at a New York City college.
Why all the gifts?
Sarah Kim, 11, was sitting on the floor and wrapping packages with her brother Joshua, 9 and her good friend, Emily Leonardo, 12. “Come back on Christmas Eve,” Sarah said. “Kids will sit on Santa’s lap and open presents.”
On Christmas Eve Pitsilos plans to feed over 4,000 people from around the Lehigh Valley. These guests have, for a large part, been selected by various homeless shelters and community action centers and they will be bused to the hotel by Trans-Bridge Lines—free.
Once at the hotel they will be honored guests. That’s right. 4,000 guests—not customers. The conference center is being decorated as though it were the social event of the season. Buffet lines will be overflowing with traditional holiday food, drink and sweets. The main course? Turkey, of course—240 of them donated by Jaindl Farms.
The names of some of the other people donating money and services seemed familiar. . . . philanthropist Linny Fowler . . . David Jaindl’s Jaindl Farms . . . hotelier Kostas Kalogeropoulos. These same names are linked to some other marvelous Lehigh Valley institutions: the Miracle League, leadership awards at SkillsUSA, Camelot for Kids-- to name a few.
“Don’t know. Americans will figure this out.”
By Doug Graves © 2007
Ten to fifteen people showed up at the Federal Building in Allentown on Wednesday, July 18 to protest the United States’ policy in Iraq. Pedestrians generally avoided the group or walked stoically past them. Some motorists honked their horns in support of the message, but most remained passively silent. At least one motorist shouted “Hippy!” preceded by an obscene expletive as he drove across Hamilton on 5th Street.
Bill Maurer of Bethlehem said, “People are supportive of security measures; it is difficult to make an argument about which tactic is effective. Bush is not the one to make the decision.” When asked who is [the one to make a decision], Maurer shrugged, “Don’t know. Americans will figure this out.”
Self-described pacifist Judith Woodruff of Allentown, when asked what her response to 9-11 would have been she said, “Legally pursue the people who had something to do with it. 9-11 wouldn’t have happened if the U. S. had been a country that was just in their actions with other countries, especially third world countries.” When asked if she could name a country that she considered as being “just in their actions” with third world countries, she could not. “Maybe a Scandinavian country,” she said.
On the Lehigh County Courthouse courtyard diagonally across from the protesters office workers and contractors sat in ones and twos taking their lunch breaks and passively watching as the demonstrators waved upside-down flags and shouted.
“Don’t they have jobs?” said Ron Castagnera of Emmaus. “I understood why we went into Iraq,” said Dale Inglehart from Dallas, Pa. “I can’t tell you that we should pull out today. I don’t know if that’s the best solution.”
The event was staged outside the Federal Building where Republican Senator Arlen Specter has an office, but Specter was in Washington where Republicans defeated a procedural ballot that would have allowed a vote on an amendment that would bring U. S. troops home from Iraq by April 30. The Democrat leadership needed at least 60 votes to bring the amendment to a vote. They lost 52-47. A call to Senator Specter’s Allentown office on Wednesday was not returned.
Groups that had representatives at Wednesday’s protest included the Lehigh-Pocono Committee of Concern and the Allentown Armory Activists.
Ten to fifteen people showed up at the Federal Building in Allentown on Wednesday, July 18 to protest the United States’ policy in Iraq. Pedestrians generally avoided the group or walked stoically past them. Some motorists honked their horns in support of the message, but most remained passively silent. At least one motorist shouted “Hippy!” preceded by an obscene expletive as he drove across Hamilton on 5th Street.
Bill Maurer of Bethlehem said, “People are supportive of security measures; it is difficult to make an argument about which tactic is effective. Bush is not the one to make the decision.” When asked who is [the one to make a decision], Maurer shrugged, “Don’t know. Americans will figure this out.”
Self-described pacifist Judith Woodruff of Allentown, when asked what her response to 9-11 would have been she said, “Legally pursue the people who had something to do with it. 9-11 wouldn’t have happened if the U. S. had been a country that was just in their actions with other countries, especially third world countries.” When asked if she could name a country that she considered as being “just in their actions” with third world countries, she could not. “Maybe a Scandinavian country,” she said.
On the Lehigh County Courthouse courtyard diagonally across from the protesters office workers and contractors sat in ones and twos taking their lunch breaks and passively watching as the demonstrators waved upside-down flags and shouted.
“Don’t they have jobs?” said Ron Castagnera of Emmaus. “I understood why we went into Iraq,” said Dale Inglehart from Dallas, Pa. “I can’t tell you that we should pull out today. I don’t know if that’s the best solution.”
The event was staged outside the Federal Building where Republican Senator Arlen Specter has an office, but Specter was in Washington where Republicans defeated a procedural ballot that would have allowed a vote on an amendment that would bring U. S. troops home from Iraq by April 30. The Democrat leadership needed at least 60 votes to bring the amendment to a vote. They lost 52-47. A call to Senator Specter’s Allentown office on Wednesday was not returned.
Groups that had representatives at Wednesday’s protest included the Lehigh-Pocono Committee of Concern and the Allentown Armory Activists.
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