During the holiday season, many people spent time wrapping presents, baking gingerbread cookies, and hanging icicle lights around their homes.

Geri Connolly, 56, of Sharon, spent her holidays around a different perimeter -- at Ground Zero in New York City.

"The whole situation really touched me and I wanted to do something and I couldn't give a lot of money," said the Brookfield School District assistant treasurer. "I found the Salvation Army Web site and it said (World Trade Center) volunteers needed, so I applied on-line."

She applied early in November and was contacted via e-mail a week later.

"They wanted me to come immediately, but I said I can't possibly make it now, but could make it during the holidays," she said about her holiday break.

Ms. Connolly took a bus from Pittsburgh Dec. 21 and stayed ten days in New York.

She and a couple from California set up a hydration tent 20 feet from Ground Zero. They supplied recovery workers with liquids, snacks, gloves, socks and respiratory filters, among other items.

"We set it up, a small tarp tent 50 feet by 30 feet, with electric generators to warm it," Ms. Connolly said. "I was there daily from 2 p.m. to midnight."

She described the workers as "somber" and quiet.

"It was a very sad experience for me, but very spiritual. There was no humor with any of the workers, most of which had been working 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. since Sept. 11," Ms. Connolly said. "It was hard to talk to them, not any laughter, just a really somber mood."

On Christmas Day, she ate lunch at "Taj Mahal", a temporary dome set up to feed people.

"A lot of victims' families were serving food to the workers. They wanted to serve the firemen, policemen and heavy machine operators," Ms. Connolly said.

She also had an opportunity to meet the former mayor of New York City, Rudy Giuliani, on Christmas Day.

"Prior to going there, he was my hero, and after meeting him, I feel the same way," Ms. Connolly said. "He seemed like a sensitive, sincere kind of guy."

Besides serving some of the rescue workers, he also signed Ms. Connolly's "hero jacket", the name she gave for the coat she wore as a volunteer and had various rescue workers and volunteers sign while she was in the city.

As for her view of the WTC site itself, she had only one word.

"Horrifying. It was a horrifying sight to see having been there before, seeing that whole area flattened," she said. "But I was surprised that it was so cleared. It actually changed every hour. We (she and other volunteers) didn't want to take our breaks, because everything kept changing so quickly."

She said that while she was there, workers were cleaning out subway tunnels and a mall that were buried by the collapse of the towers.

"They were now working below ground level, and using grapples, they'd shake the debris, looking for any body parts," Ms. Connolly said, adding that when you looked into the pit, the "huge mammoth machines looked like Hotwheels cars."

One of the machine operators gave her a small stuffed fireman he found in one of the mall stores, and another worker gave her a cross cut out of an I-beam, small reminders of a never-to-be-forgotten experience.

"I feel better that I've contributed something to life," Ms. Connolly said. "I'm proud of my sons and glad of that achievement, but to have contributed to this part of our history makes me proud and humble."