Sioux Falls man preserves 9/11 memories through service

https://www.dakotanewsnow.com/2025/09/12/sioux-falls-man-preserves-911-memories-through-service/

Rick is a 1974 Shanley graduate. 

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (Dakota News Now) - On the 24th anniversary of 9/11, Rick Albrecht shared his memorabilia and the lessons learned from volunteering for the Red Cross.

Albrecht started serving his country when he was 17. After 27 years of service in the Army, he continued his commitment to service through volunteering with the Red Cross after 9/11.

“And then lo and behold, I’m a substitute teacher, and the morning of 9/11, I didn’t have an assignment that day. I slept in, and when I turned the TV on, the first tower was already on fire. I continued to watch to see the second tower get hit and the events unfold,” Albrecht remembered. “At that point, I knew that I was going to volunteer for an assignment out in New York City to help with the relief effort. Being a substitute teacher, I thought I could go out there over the Christmas break, and so that’s what I did. I went from the 10th of December to the 4th of January, and what I was trained to do was to meet with the families and to load up debit cards so that they would get money for groceries, rent, and utilities.”

Albrecht said that in the midst of tragedy, there were also moments of hope.

“Every once in a while, you would find people from the same office who did not know the other person made it out alive, and they would be there, and you would just see these great reconciliations, great meetings of people,” Albrecht said. “It was one of the most heart-warming things that you could experience was to see people who cared about each other, but they had no idea that they had made it out alive.”

Among the memorabilia Albrecht preserved from that time, he said the ones made by children meant the most.

“What I wanted to then was to find ways to thank people who were supporting me and supporting others in their relief efforts,” Albrecht said. “Over here on the table, you can see we’ve got a Christmas ornament, and what I did was I tracked down some of the people that made those ornaments to thank them so they knew their gift made it, and that it made a difference.”

For Albrecht, the items saved are not just reminders of tragedy but instead symbols of service, sacrifice, and the resilience of America.