Diane Sherwood waits tables at night at the Magnolia Steak House in Luverne, but the rest of the time she can be found at her home office trying to raise upwards of $30 million for a state-of-the-art medical facility that will specialize in treating people, like 9-11 rescue workers, who suffer from chemical and toxin exposure.
A bulletin board above her home workspace filled with inspiring messages keeps her focused and motivated when the work turns frustrating.
“Everyone says, ‘When you’re further into the project, let us know.’ Well, it’s a Catch-22: we need the funds to get further into the project,” Sherwood said.
Sherwood is the founder and president of the nonprofit Remember Rally, Inc. This past spring, the organization located land in South Dakota’s Black Hills to build The Healing Sanctuary, which would treat those who suffer from chemical and toxin exposure, whether it’s from 9/11, Agent Orange from Viet Nam, Gulf War sicknesses, Hurricane Katrina or the millions of people who are exposed to workplace contaminants.
The center would offer both traditional treatment and alternative therapies, such as massage meditation, nutrition and counseling.
“When they leave, we would like to be able not only to diagnose them and treat what we can, but also educate them and their families on things like diet and exercise — the whole mind-body thing,” Sherwood said.
The effort began due to September 11, 2001.
After19 terrorists hijacked four commercial airplanes and intentionally slammed two of them into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, the clean up and rescue work began. There are an estimated 600 people who have lost their lives to respiratory illnesses and cancers as a result of that work; as a result of breathing in the toxic dust created by the collapse that burned and smoldered for months.
“There were hundreds of chemicals,” within that dust, Sherwood said. “Lead, asbestos, mercury, glass, PCBs — it all became a fine dust. Humans have never been exposed to this many chemicals in the United States in one shot.”
All those chemicals came from all those items contained within the Twin Towers. Nothing intact remained: not one desk, or computer or chair from all 220 combined stories of the two buildings.
“So you think there’s glass, insulation, mercury from thermometers,” Sherwood said. “It became this fine dust when they imploded and they literally breathed this in. In some of the rescue workers, their tracheas were lacerated from the glass in the dust.”
Sherwood watched the 9-11 horror unfold on television and, like so many around the country, felt helpless from her Midwestern locale.
“So I decided, ‘what can we do from Minnesota?’” she said.
The Remember Rally became the answer to that question and this Saturday, Sept. 12 will mark the seventh time more than 100 bikes will make a 150-mile cruise on behalf of all the Ground Zero rescue workers.
This year, the riders will be escorted out of Luverne by the fire department around 12:30 p.m. and will make its first stop in Pipestone, at Swanny’s, around 1:30 p.m., Sherwood estimated. From there, they’ll finish a loop that includes Slayton, Ruthton, Flandreau, S.D. and Garretson, S.D. and then back to Luverne.
“It’s not a poker run. People pay $10 when they sign up and they’re done for the day,” Sherwood said.
The money raised during the early years — about $2,000 locally — went to Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York City for a special program for rescue workers. After the organization incorporated as a nonprofit, they wrote checks for rescue workers who needed help with the mortgage or paying the electricity. From this point forward, all money raised will go toward creating The Healing Sanctuary
Currently, they’re writing a business plan and working with government agencies to locate grants. Though such a project could take years, Sherwood is optimistic.
“We need to find one of those angel investors,” she said. “We hope people will come on board and get excited about what we’re doing.”
The documentary
Diane Sherwood has developed personal relationships with many of the rescue workers she’s trying to help with The Healing Sanctuary, a specialized medical facility in South Dakota’s Black Hills that would offer traditional and alternative treatments for those suffering from exposure to chemicals and toxins.
Her introductions came after she posted a request on craigslist for photographers and producers interested in making a documentary on the respiratory-related illnesses of the 9-11 rescue workers.
The response was overwhelming, she said; she found more professionals than she could use who wanted to volunteer their skills.
While making that documentary, they interviewed 89 rescue workers (though the documentary was edited-down to focus upon three).
“When we interviewed them, we asked them if they would do this again,” Sherwood said, “and every single one of them said yes; and every single one of them is sick.”
Her voice cracks when she recalled this story, or talked about some of the friends she’s made who are now gone.
She cries and then apologizes; it’s clear how much these people have touched her life.
She keeps a box of momentos from her visits to New York City, including a piece of metal from Ground Zero.
She can’t locate where her dedication and passion comes from; why this issue and not some other.
“People ask why I do this,” she said. “I believe God picked me for this project.”
