The Sunday following the attacks on the New York World Trade Center towers found my wife, youngest daughter and me back in the city. Our oldest daughter lives in New York City. We were thankful that our family was untouched by the tragedy, but in reality we were all touched by the horrific series of events that unfolded before our eyes in New York, Washington, and just outside Pittsburgh.

We spent a quiet day together; thankful that we could do that when so many others could not.

We spent several hours in Union Square Park between 14th and 17th street. The park became one of many memorial sites that sprung up to allow New Yorkers to express their condolences, sentiments, and post missing person announcements in the hope that their loved ones would be found safe, and alive. 

As I turned the corner on to 17th Street, I saw a familiar site, and one that was certainly not expected in this place, at this time, and under these circumstances.

There before me was the Workhorse W22 motorhome. Like millions of other Americans, Tony Monda, Workhorse director of marketing, wanted to do something to help out in this time of national crisis. He drove the motorhome to New York, parked it in Union Square, and made it available to the Redeemer Presbyterian Church organization that was providing critical financial assistance, crisis counseling, and pastoral services to those in need.

I reached Tony on his cell phone while he was at the Javits Center making additional arrangements to help the next day. He was uncomfortable about my discovery of the motorhome because it had nothing to do with PR, and it certainly wasn't a marketing ploy. I reminded Tony that we were both there for the same reasons ... we were concerned and wanted to do something.

It's not about publicity, It's about people. People in need.