Tri-Village Lion Tim King was working for Aon Hewitt, an operating division of the Aon Corporation, on 9/11. Aon employed almost 1000 people with offices on the top nine floors of the World Trade Center, Tower 2. Tragically, 176 of those employees died on 9/11.
Aon Corporation responded in the only way it could. It looked after the survivors. Aon provided fully paid health insurance for surviving spouses for life, fully paid health insurance for victims’ children until adulthood, and fully paid college tuition for all surviving children. You can read more about the Corporation’s ongoing response by visiting their legacy site at http://www.legacy.com/Sept11/aon/Home.aspx
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Hundreds of New York City service members and citizens formed a line dubbed the “Bucket Brigade” to pass buckets of debris to investigators so they could search for human remains.
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New York City’s ironworkers showed up to cut the fallen buildings’ steel frames into manageable sizes for easier removal.
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Thousands of children around the country and the entire world wrote letters of support to the workers in the recovery effort.
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Service members of the 69th Infantry’s armory of the National Guard became a Family Information Center to help people find their missing loved ones.
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For weeks, New York cab drivers offered free rides to relief workers and volunteers laboring at the disaster site.
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Florists donated flowers for funerals. Thousands of mental health counselors worldwide offered free psychological service to families and workers at disaster sites. The Association of Trial Lawyers offered free legal representation for families applying to the government for compensation.
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The Vermont Teddy Bear Co. created a “Cards of Compassion” campaign to donate 558 teddy bears to families of firefighters, police, and rescue workers. The company collected 150,000 messages of love and hope from people all over the country. Then they printed, and delivered the bounty of messages and bears with the help of Federal Express.
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Musicians and movie stars raised hundreds of millions of dollars with a New York concert for firefighters, and with a national telethon for victims’ families – A Tribute to Heroes – simulcast on every commercial network, commercial-free.
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A free forum, set up on E-Bay, offered sellers, participating companies, and celebrities to auction goods and services with full sales price donated to victims. Many US Congressmen donated themselves – to act as chef, artist, tour guide, or dinner host for winners.
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Even people who had little to give were moved to action by the light of their own compassion. Residents of Grace House homeless shelter in Savannah, Georgia, gathered what they could and proudly sent a check for $52 to the Red Cross. Prisoners in Louisiana making 40 cents an hour, raised more than $11,000 for victims. Inmates of California’s Institute for Women sent hand-sewn quilts and several thousand dollars in cash.
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Do you have a 9/11 story of kindness to share? Please send it along to lionjjarrow@gmail.com and we’ll post it here.
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