ELLIJAY — It’s been a week since they arrived and just days since they’ve been gone. Yet, what they brought to the barn-raising at Build An Ark Animal Rescue will hopefully stay in our community for a very long time. Yes, they helped build a new barn, outdoor community amphitheater and an education pavilion at the animal shelter. But something else was built that can’t be seen, unless of course you are looking into someone’s heart.

For those who visited the site tucked off Georgia State Highway 382, or came to Gilmer High School to see The National 9/11 Flag on display, there was something more. Perhaps it’s just a simple reminder we are all each other’s keeper. Or maybe it’s just knowing that there’s nothing like true American spirit.
So many of the volunteers arrived as strangers and left as friends. All due to a disaster that not only helped bring a community together, but called on disaster survivors from across the country to “pay it forward” in Ellijay. At the end of the day, the education pavilion is done. The outdoor community amphitheater is complete and beautifully landscaped with even a waterfall flowing down a hillside. There’s still some work that remains on the barn, but the goal for last weekend was to build the barn’s foundation, shell and roof. Jordan Building Construction in Brooks, Georgia will now come in and finish the barn, donating time and labor.

All goals were accomplished and surpassed and plans were made long before the work ever began on how it would be finished and how the shelter’s mission would continue after the New York Says Thank You (NYSTY) crew left.
Over the years, the New York Says Thank You Foundation has perfected what it does. It implements a plan before volunteers arrive and a plan stays in place for certain projects after the volunteers go. The foundation was started by a New York venture capitalist Jeff Parness. It’s premise is to help disaster victims rebuild, just as so many Americans helped New York rebuild after the 9/11 terror attack. The cause especially resonates with New York firefighters. Hundreds who responded to the calls at the Twin Towers are NYSTY volunteers. It’s emotional for them. The kind of emotion which one seldom talks about. Instead, it’s poured out in actions. Disaster survivors understand. They, too, grapple with much of the same. And each year, new projects bring a band of new volunteers: disaster survivors so touched by Americans coming to their communities to help them — they spend their summer vacations year after year traveling to whatever project NYSTY is championing to help there. And there is always another project. Usually, very close to the anniversary of 9/11. Ellijay has the distinction of being the project chosen for the tenth anniversary of the attacks.

The field around the shelter no longer serves as a parking lot for hundreds of cars, most bearing out-of-state license plates. The National 9/11 Flag is now on its way to its next stop — it’s next town. And friends continue to reach out to friends, making sure what was started here will not be forgotten and that everyone made it home safely. Many ask the other if they’ve started to make sense of the feelings they experienced at the Build An Ark site. Parness smiles and says it takes days … maybe even weeks before volunteers are often able to wrangle their feelings.

What many do know, is they’ll be back next year to help — wherever that help maybe needed. This year, it was Build An Ark Animal Rescue. Next year, it will be a destination unknown. Up until now, the projects have all been on American soil. But Parness, is now talking about ways the group can help disaster victims in Japan. Everywhere NYSTY visits, dedicated volunteers emerge for the next year … the next project.

Area resident, Kelly Buddenhagen, was a ‘Stars of Hope’ team member at the Ark. The Stars of Hope are painted by children and sent to other communities rebuilding from some sort of disaster. Each star is cut from plywood is less than a foot in size, but its message is always powerful. Children are given a star or stars to paint as Mom or Dad helps the foundation doing volunteer work. Almost 5,000 stars were created in Ellijay last weekend. The most on any project prior to that was about 500. Buddenhagen is now busy planning a trip to Ringgold, where the same series of tornadoes that leveled the animal shelter, also leveled that town. She’ll bring the stars created in Ellijay — and help make new ones in Ringgold to serve there as a sign of hope and inspiration.

Tornadoes may have brought disaster. But the volunteers brought enough love and compassion to make it right.

There’s one more thing that needs to be front and foremost: The weekend was dedicated to Ellijay’s fallen son, Army 1st. Lt. Noah Harris. Harris was killed in Iraq in 2005 while serving his country. From all accounts, he was what was right in a world that doesn’t always make sense. The National 9/11 Flag was on display Saturday at Gilmer High School in the same gym where Harris wrestled and grew-up. An adjacent building to the gym bears his name. His mother and father were charged with giving speeches at the flag ceremony. They are loved in this community. They have also lost their only son and are left to grieve what no parent should ever have to endure. If Noah Harris stood for what was right, then the community owes his memory a tremendous debt to pay it forward. That debt stands in tact with or without NYSTY. Susan Littlejohn still has a mission to accomplish and she needs help and support to carry it through. Build An Ark offers outreach programs to help the elderly, the handicapped and troubled youth. The Ark animals also star in many Easter passion plays around the area.

Meanwhile, the Build An Ark board is in the process of getting organized and will oversee the business aspect of the charity. But the community must continue to rally behind the cause to help it meet its potential. It is a way the living can honor what has been lost.

Noah’s Weekend Comes To An Emotional Close from Fetch on Vimeo.