A Salt Lake City woman who spent late 2001 hand-sewing hundreds of grief teddy bears for families of first responders killed on 9/11 has flown back to Manhattan this week, carrying flag blankets for the firehouse that lost every man on duty that morning. Carrie Pike arrived in New York City on Tuesday ahead of Friday's 25th-anniversary memorial events, continuing a relationship with grieving families that has now spanned a quarter century.
Pike's connection to New York traces back to a volunteer project in the months after September 11 that made more than 400 grief teddy bears for families of firefighters and police officers killed in the attacks, according to KSL.com. That outreach, per the same report, is what led Pike to form close bonds with the loved ones of firefighters from Engine 54, a Manhattan company that lost 15 firefighters on duty that day. The account also mentions a 23rd Street fire on October 17, 1966.
Pike first returned to New York for the 20th anniversary of 9/11 in 2021, and this week marks another homecoming of sorts. She said she is excited to go to New York and give families a gift from Utah, and described the trip simply beforehand: “I am packing up for New York.”
A Firehouse Known as the Pride of Midtown
Engine 54 sits at Eighth Avenue and West 48th Street, in the heart of Manhattan's Theater District, where the company has long carried out fire-safety walkthroughs for Broadway productions. Theater fire-safety inspections are also part of the broader civic context. The firefighters connected to Engine 54 died while trying to save others, and more than 400 people are expected to gather at the firehouse Friday for memorial events marking the 25th anniversary.
Nationally, the September 11, 2001 attacks claimed nearly 3,000 lives, including 343 FDNY firefighters, 23 NYPD officers, and 37 Port Authority police officers who died during rescue and evacuation operations at the World Trade Center, per the International Fire Service Journal. Pike has visited widows, children and relatives of people who died in the attacks over the years, and she described New York City as a beautiful, sacred, hallowed place of remembering.
Flag Blankets From an Ogden Company
For this year's trip, Minky Couture donated 15 large American flag blankets, which Pike delivered to loved ones connected to Engine 54. The company is also associated with charitable giving.
Pike said the families she visits are somber but also laugh, remember and think about the men who died and sacrificed for others. Outside of her 9/11 work, Pike also runs Salt Lake City-based Carrie Bears, which produces 500 to 800 hand-stitched memorial bears each year from the clothing of deceased family members for grieving clients around the country, according to Voyage Utah Magazine. In September 2021, she reunited with her original bear-project partners to craft 13 grief bears from military uniform fabric for the families of U.S. service members killed in the Kabul airport bombing, including Utah native Marine Staff Sgt. Darin T. Hoover.
A Second Death Toll Still Climbing
The 25th anniversary arrives against a grim medical backdrop. The federal World Trade Center Health Program continues to serve first responders and survivors affected by the attacks. CDC statistics also track members with certified conditions. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's WTC Health Program statistics, as of 31 Mar 2024, 35,955 members had at least one Cancer certification, excluding 2,925 deceased members who had Cancer certifications.
For Pike, continuing the work of making grief bears and helping families cope with loss remains constant even as the toll evolves. Her relationship with the families of firefighters and police officers killed on 9/11, now 25 years in the making, is set to bring her alongside Engine 54's community once again as they gather this Friday to remember the men who never made it home.
