New York City firefighters will take a break from their grim work at Ground Zero long enough to visit Cooperstown this weekend.

Noelle Hage is a Cooperstown resident who lived in New York City for nine years and met her husband, Eric, there. Eric Hage, who works in Manhattan trading convertible bonds, was just about to go into the Holland Tunnel when the second tower was hit. The Hages were impacted by the tragedy because Noelle's brother-in-law, Mark Montgomery, is a firefighter from Queens with Ladder 165, Engine 317, Battalion 54.

Hage, a parishioner of St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church in Cooperstown, said she felt helpless, as many people did, on and after September 11.

"At mass, I suggested that if people wanted to write anything down about their feelings, they could, because my husband and I were going to make a book. You can donate blood, money or food, and you don't know who's going to get it. But when you write something, sometimes it helps to get it out. And we were sending all the letters to Mark's company," Hage said.

Sixty-six letters were written as a result.

"I bawled my eyes out when I was reading them," she said. "I still can't believe what people wrote. It was amazing."

Hage and her husband assembled the scrapbook, but the community support didn't stop there. Care packages were left on her steps, she said, along with baked goods, socks, other necessities, and the Baseball Hall of Fame's donation of hats, tee-shirts and sweatshirts.

"People may not realize that when they leave Ground Zero they literally have to peel themselves out of their clothes and just throw them away," Hage said. "They don't make a lot of money and they're buying a lot of this stuff, socks and shirts, themselves. There was so much stuff in our dining room that we weren't even sure how to ship it."

Hage knew eight of the people lost on September 11.

"It's just all so incredibly depressing," Hage said. "But when the firefighters received the packages, and we just signed them all 'from your friends in Cooperstown,' they wanted to come here and visit. I had heard that the Otsego County Chamber was in the process of setting up B&B's with rescue workers who needed a break, so I got in touch with the local Chamber here and they were so helpful."

Montgomery, his family, some of his fellow firefighters and their families will be arriving in town on Friday to spend a weekend filled with remembrance and rest. Local B&B's and individuals, including Craig and Heidi Gillespie, Kathryn and Al Ahearn, Bob and Linda Scheurmann of the Landmark Inn, Penny Gentile of Nelson Avenue Pines, Bridget Durkee of Diastole, and the Maple Shade Inn all donated rooms.

Hage said a variety of other people donated goods and services, and the names are too many to mention but Peg and Gordy Hage, John and Fran LeReux, Father John Rosson, Dale Petroskey, Karen Streck, Alison Eichler, Barbara Juleo, Chuck and Ursula Hage, Jeff Idelson, Jeff Arnett and Anne Hall all deserve a special thank you. Some of these individuals will be donating food, babysitting services, rooms, baskets of cheese, crackers and snacks for the B&B rooms, and complimentary tickets to the Baseball Hall of Fame and passes to the HoF's members-only World Series Gala on Saturday night, in which the New York Yankees will once again compete for top honors.

Carol Waller usually signs up to decorate St. Mary's this weekend every year, she said, because it's her anniversary. But the arrangements this time will take a tone of patriotism and remembrance. Waller said local firemen are lending helmets to be used as part of the red, white and blue display.

Rosson said he has seen a rise in attendance at his church in the aftermath of the tragedy. The parish has a book at the church entrance where people can write their feelings down about September 11. So many showed up for a mass on the evening of September 11 that they ran out of eucharistic bread. The sermon slated for Saturday's special service at 5:30 p.m. will be called "The True Power of Prayer."

"Prayer doesn't change events," Rosson said. "But it allows us to respond. It gives us energy. When we kneel, we're weak, but when we rise, we're strong and have new vision."

Rosson said this is a wonderful opportunity for a quaint community like Cooperstown to be a part of things at a difficult time.

"We're helping our fellow New Yorkers," he said.

Cooperstown Fire Department president Al Keck said this is a much needed relief for the NYC firefighters.