|
|
 |
 |
by PATRICK GALLAHUE
New York Post readers dug deep into their pockets and donated a staggering half-million dollars to the Post/UFA Heroes Fund to benefit the families of the three firefighters killed and four injured on "Black Sunday."
"In the worst times of your life, you feel support or comfort whether it's the fireman or people donating," said JoAnn Asch, whose brother, firefighter Richard Sclafani, was killed in a Brooklyn inferno. "It's just a nice feeling."
Donations from as small as a dollar to as large as $100,000 — from actor Denis Leary's Firefighters Foundation — have poured into the fund in just a little more than two months.
The fund now stands at a mind-blowing $505,800.
The Post donated $25,000.
"The UFA and its members' thanks go to the New York Post and its readers for their heartfelt support of these firefighters and families in the wake of the Jan. 23 tragedy," said Steve Cassidy, president of the Uniformed Firefighters Association.
"The Heroes Fund received countless cards and letters of support about these brave firefighters," he added. "These well-wishes will be a part of the legacy of their sacrifice and the enormous efforts of The Post and its readers to help them through this terrible time."
Lt. Curtis Meyran, 46, of Battalion 26; John Bellew, of Ladder Co. 27; and Sclafani, of Ladder Co. 103, died in twin blazes on Jan. 23, which has come to be known as Black Sunday.
Sclafani was killed after he was trapped in the basement of a burning house in East New York.
Meyran and Bellew died trying to escape a horrific Bronx building blaze. Trapped by flames, the heroes were forced to make a fatal jump from the fifth floor.
Firefighters Jeffrey Cool, 37, and Joseph DiBernardo, 34, both of Rescue Co. 3; and Eugene Stolowski, 33, and Brendan Cawley, 31, of Ladder Co. 27, were badly hurt in the Bronx fire and spent weeks in the hospital recovering from their injuries.
DiBernardo returned home March 9 from the burn unit of New York Weill Cornell Medical Center after 45 days.
Fire Department Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta said, "On behalf of everyone in the FDNY, I thank The Post and all New Yorkers who contributed to the Heroes Fund.
"Your extraordinary support after the tragic events of Jan. 23, 2005, have done much to bolster the spirits of our members during this terrible time. The fund will be a tremendous help in supporting our three families who lost loved ones on that tragic day."
In addition to Leary's giant donation, The Post kicked in $25,000, Barbara Walters gave $5,000, and ordinary citizens found some extraordinary ways to raise cash.
Firefighter Rob Carlo, of Ladder Co. 23, put together a bash in Queens that raised more than $20,000. Because overtime is such as crucial part of a firefighter's paycheck, Carlo said he worried for the families of the injured.
"I'm sure they're having a hard time making ends meet," he said. "They shouldn't have to worry about money at a time like this."
Carlo, who lost his younger brother, firefighter Michael Carlo, on Sept. 11, added, "The country was so good after 9/11, I want to do what I can for these guys, because I know the hardship."
Even an enterprising matchmaker plans to get in on the act by cashing in on the enduring firefighter fetish.
Jay Rosensweig, president of Weekenddating.com, put together a speed-dating event last month with bona fide FDNY smoke-eaters — and a portion of the profits went to the UFA Widows and Children's Fund.
"I'd love to do the next one for the Heroes Fund," Rosensweig said. "I know I'll have absolutely no trouble getting the women. They go bananas for this."
The last event raised more than $1,000, including money raised by the bar.
"I was never disappointed by New Yorkers," Asch said. "I'm a New Yorker, and I always feel that when times are rough, they help."
All the money goes into a special account set up at Amalgamated Bank of New York. The firefighters union said it will divide the funds evenly among the families and take no deduction for administrative expenses.
Credit-card donations can't be accepted, and IRS rules bar the contributions from being tax-deductible. Telephone inquiries about the fund can be directed to Sheila Pettit of the UFA at (212) 545-6962. If you want to help, send a check to:
Heroes Fund, c/o Uniformed Firefighters Association, 204 E. 23rd St., New York, N.Y. 10010
WIDOWS FIND COMFORT IN RAINBOWS & STARS
By STEVE DUNLEAVY
FOR Eileen Bellew, I pray for rainbows. For Jeanette Meyran, I ask for stars.
It's tough to burst into the homes of the widows of brave firefighters who died for us and ask questions about the hole in their hearts.
I asked, they answered. I would defy a guy even as tough as Donald Trump not to go to his second handkerchief to dry his eyes.
Eileen is in her neat little house in Pearl River, an American flag flying outside, surrounded by her four kids. They're yelling, laughing, crying and demanding. Kids do that.
Her husband, John Bellew, of Ladder 27, died on that terrible Black Sunday, Jan. 23, along with Lt. Curt Meyran as they plunged out a window with four of their brothers, falling 50 feet to escape an inferno in The Bronx.
"I get signals from John all the time," said Eileen as she kept me and her 3-year-old son Jack from destroying the house with a mini soccer ball.
"The day after John's funeral, through a window in the house in the middle of winter, I noticed a rainbow shining across the face of little Kieran, our 7-month-old son.
"Two weeks later, I turned the corner to go to Starbucks, where John and I would go together, and there was a rainbow, in the middle of winter," she said.
"And then, of course, there is the music. Our favorite number was an oldie called, 'Oh, What a Night.'
"The words go, 'Oh what a night in late December of '63.' John would sing along and change the words to 'late July of '93.' That's when we met on the Jersey Shore.
"I hadn't heard that song in years. After John was gone, I heard it suddenly six, seven times on the radio.
"No, I didn't get sad. It was beautiful — rainbows and songs. They can get you through a tough day."
She had thought she knew about coping.
"Then I went to a workshop provided by the Fire Department to guide widows on how to bring up a boy," she recalled.
"I thought I knew everything, and suddenly they said, 'Do you know how to teach a little boy how to tie a tie? Do you know how to teach a young boy how to shave?'
"Well, the answer was no. I try to roughhouse with Jack, but mothers don't do that.
"My husband not only was my best friend, he would have taken care of all that. Little Jack didn't only lose a father, he lost his playmate, John.
"And my daughters Katreana and Brielle — he would go to the local pool in the summer and stay in the water with them from 10 a.m. into the night.
"Two weeks after I met him in 1993, he said to me, 'What are you doing in July 1995?' I said, 'I don't know.' He said, 'Well, let's get married.' I said, 'Yes,' because I knew from the first time we met."
Eileen took a moment to thank Post readers for their support of the Uniformed Firefighters Association's Heroes Fund.
"It helped financially," she said. "But it helped even more, emotionally, to see how New Yorkers are standing behind us."
Jack was kicking the soccer ball, Brielle was doing her Irish step dancing, Katreana was crying because Jack wouldn't play with her, and baby Kieran kept on gurgling and laughing. It was a whole family with the exception of one.
In Malverne, L.I., Jeanette Meyran looks at the stars for signals from her lost husband, Lt. Curt Meyran, a man reported by the four survivors of the death leap as being cool, calm and in control to the end.
"Curt did everything here, but his pride and joy was the hot tub. So I am there with the kids, and [6-year-old daughter] Danine looks up and sees one particular star," Jeanette said.
" 'That's Daddy,' she said. Do you know we saw that same star three nights in a row. She would point up and say, 'There it is.'
"We see it all the time. Curt gives us signals.
"There are songs that bring him back to me, but the most amazing things are things you haven't said or thought of for 20 years and they come back.
"Where the heck did that come from, you ask. Well, I think I know, a signal from Curt.
"Oh, yeah, he is not here physically, but heck, he is with us every foot of the way. Bless him."
She, too, was grateful for the fund. "I said after the tragedy, we'll all be forgotten in one week," she recalled. "The Post and its readers have shown we have not been forgotten."
It wasn't easy to intrude on the grief of women who have lost beloved husbands. But you know what? I feel better for it.
So I pray for rainbows and stars. Hey, help me out and do the same thing.
 |
|
 |
 |
|
|
|
