Changed by 9/11: Nina Petersen, Parish Outreach Director

In 2001, Nina Petersen was working in the direct mail marketing field, where she had spent more than 20 years as a manager, assistant director and media analyst. At that time, she was employed by a direct mail production facility, responsible for scheduling and allocating all of the company's resources, which included 400 employees in eight departments.

Today, Peterson is the director of Parish Social Ministry for in Farmingdale, responsible for serving those in the community who need it most.

She oversees the parish food pantry, case management services, employment counseling, medical transportation and many other programs created to help local residents facing hardship.

She says the impact of 9/11 was majorly felt in both fields.

"One of our largest clients at the time was an airline and they cut back severely on their direct mail promotions. We also saw a general decline in the volume of advertising of other large clients, and the decreased revenue caused us to lay off many employees," she said.

She added that the anthrax scare that was happening close to the same time created very strict security procedures to ensure safety in the company's building, which sent out millions of pieces of mail each week. The company ultimately went out of business in 2008.

She says parish outreach and social services in general were hugely impacted by 9/11.

"It would be a huge understatement to say that the human services field was very hard hit by 9/11," she said. "Social workers and disaster recovery programs everywhere were called on to help people cope with and respond to the many needs which arose as a result of this disaster - the practical, psychological, emotional and spiritual needs."

Ten years later, the parish ministry continues to provide these needs to the community.

"Our extremely dedicated volunteers do an amazing job of helping our clients in many different ways," Petersen said.

This story is part of Patch's "How did 9/11 change you?" series. Share your personal story in the comment section below.