Flo Samuels has found a home in Chattanooga. Click to enlarge all our photos.
photo by Christina Siebold
Imagine, if you can, that on September 11th it was not the World Trade Towers that lay in smoky ruins, but Chattanooga’s tallest building, One Republic Center. And instead of
a gaping hole in the Pentagon, there was a gaping hole in Veterans Bridge. Watching the tragedy unfold on television, it is not a far-off place filled with strangers that you see, but your city, your neighbors, and your friends.
Now imagine you were out of town for that whole horrible day, but your family was still here.
If you can imagine all of that, than you know what Florence Samuels has been through since September 11. Originally from Greenwich Village in New York City, Flo left her family in New York and moved to Chattanooga with her husband 20 years ago.
“My thoughts that day were on my family,” says Flo. “They live all over the city - in Long Island, in Manhattan and in Greenwich Village.” And, she says, her thoughts were
with the thousands of New Yorkers who had certainly perished in the attack.
Although NYC was the place she was born and raised, after two decades, Flo now considers herself more a Chattanoogan than a New Yorker. Unlike most Yankees who make the move to Dixie, she had no trouble adjusting from “You talkin’ to me?!” to “Well, bless your heart!”
“From the time we drove into Chattanooga on 75, I knew I loved it,” she says. “My brother won’t even claim me, he says I’m not a Yankee anymore.”
Shortly after arriving in Chattanooga, Flo became very active in the community. Today, she works at Chattanooga Christian Community Foundation and she volunteers at a crisis pregnancy center, along with many hours of dedicated service in her church.
About five years ago, Flo began creating hand-made cards and stationary. At first, she sold them to individuals and in a friends card shop, but soon took them off the market. “I wanted to make the cards for people as a ministry,” she says. “I love doing pretty things
for people who are sick or who need encouragement.”
So when the suggestion for the “Healing of the Hearts” card campaign came in to the Chattanooga Parks, Recreation, Arts and Culture Department, Flo was asked to oversee
the event.
According to Trinette Ballard, Public Information Specialist with CPRAC, the campaign started as an emailed suggestion from a friend of a friend. They thought it was a great idea, so Florence Samuels was contacted and the card campaign was off and running.
“We’re asking people to come out and make cards for the New York City rescue workers. It was also suggested that we make cards for the dispatchers who have kept
everything moving,” says Ms. Ballard.
Cards can also be made for the families of those in the military. The cards for rescue workers and dispatchers will be mailed by the Parks, Recreation, Arts and Culture
Department of Chattanooga. Sending cards to military families will be the responsibility of those who make them.
“Healing of the Hearts” is on Saturday, November 10, from noon - 3 p.m. at Warner Park. Weather permitting, the event will be held outside. In case of rain, they will move indoors to the Warner Park fieldhouse.
All materials for creating the cards will be provided and the event will be free of charge. There will be expert advise in the form of Flo Samuels and several staff members she has trained in the fine art of card making. They will all be on hand to encourage and inspire creative genius among the participants.
Ms. Ballard says her department has received a very positive response from people in the community who are eager to encourage those affected most deeply by this tragedy. “The
big thing so far has been monetary donations, but a lot of people don’t have the money to give. The cards are another way to express your feelings and sympathy towards them,” she says of the hero-rescuers, dispatchers and military families. “Expression is the first step to healing.”
Flo Samuels agrees and shares her own goals for the “Healing of the Hearts” card campaign. “I’d like the cards to be a personal thought of encouragement and love towards the ones in New York City - an unselfish thing. But I think the people who make
these cards will be as blessed as those who receive them.”