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CNN Live Today

'Everyday Heroes'

Aired December 04, 2003 - 10:31   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: I think you're really going to like this new segment that we're introducing you to this morning. It's called "Everyday Heroes." Today's focus is a 5-year-old boy in New York growing up in the shadows of the 9/11 attacks, and the nation's generosity in the midst of his city's tragedy. He saw news reports on the Southern California wildfires, there he is. He enlisted his dad, who also we have with us, to help create a Web site. It is called NewYorksaysthankyou.org. And through it, money and goods were volunteered for people like Bill and Lorena Strong, who lost their homes in the fires, and they're joining us from Southern California with their kids as well.
Good morning to everybody.

Strongs, I'm going to start with you. Quickly tell us your story of what happened to you and your family during the fires.

BILL STRONG, LOST HOME IN SAN DIEGO WILDFIRES: Well, I was at work at the time, and we got the calm, and she was evacuated, and it was a hard time, you know, and we got what we could out, and that was basically it. It was, you know...

KAGAN: I think we're showing pictures of what is left of your home, which is not much.

STRONG: When we got back to the site, we didn't know if we lost our home or not. And then the next day when we went back, that's what we got to see. We thought there would be a wall standing or something, but I understand it was a pretty hot fire.

KAGAN: Now clear across the country we have Evan and Jeff Parness.

Jeff, we're going to bring you in; you're the dad. You didn't know these families. You didn't know these families in Southern California, but you're watching the news coverage, and you're there with your kids and explain to me the conversation of how you explain to your 5-year-old what is taking place.

JEFF PARNESS, EVAN'S FATHER: I didn't have to explain to him. He got it immediately. We saw a CNN report about a little girl who lost her Halloween costume in a fire, and I asked, Evan, how would you help a girl like this? He said maybe his old toys he doesn't play with, he can mail to his aunt Molly, and she could give to the mother to give to the girl, and I challenged him to dream big. I said there are 35 stories in our building. What if you helped me to collect toys from all the kids in the building. And his eyes lit up, and he said, that's great, we can send lots of toys. We collected so much stuff in two days, we had to rent a U-Haul truck, which we drove cross country, me and two friends, and we put a sign on the side of it, which says, NewYorksaysthankyou.org.

After 9/11, so many people gave New York so much love, we didn't forget that.

KAGAN: Let's bring Evan in here, because he is our hero. Evan, tell me about some of the things you collected for the kids in Southern California.

Evan, can you tell me about some of the things you collected for the kids in Southern California? Can you hear me?

EVAN PARNESS, PHILANTHROPIST: Yes.

KAGAN: OK, tell me about some of the things you collected for the kids in Southern California.

E. PARNESS: Clothes for the grown-ups, and clothes for the kids and clothes for the grown-ups and just clothes for -- I mean just clothes for the kids.

KAGAN: Lots and lots of stuff. That is great.

Jeff, when you drove across the country, did you -- you didn't really have a specific family or neighborhood in mind.

J. PARNESS: Right. What happened was we just had a destination in San Diego, and we were originally coordinating with Father Joe's Village, St. Vincent DePaul, which was a large distribution center. We unloaded there. But then everybody said, go visit this community, Harveson Canyon (ph). It was a town of 388 homes, 287 of them burned. And when I went there, everybody recognized us from the media coverage, and I asked them, how else could we be of help? And they were concerned about the 300 children in the community playing with the debris, and they wanted to outfit a recreation center to have them in a group environment to be distracted.

So I immediately flew back to New York and got my son's school involved, Rhode F. Shalon (ph). And over the weekend, the middle school students collected seven bins of stuff to outfit a recreation room that's being established for the lion's club for the Children of Harveson Canyon. So we went back the next week and brought all the toys from my son's school.

O'BRIEN: Let's bring the Strongs back in here. What is it like to have these strangers, completely across the country, pull up with toys and wonderful things for your kids?

LORENA STRONG, LOST HOME IN SAN DIEGO WILDFIRES: It is an overwhelming support of love that we're getting. In the beginning of the fire, we weren't acknowledged because we were such a unincorporated community, and it's very small. And so we were just overwhelmed the fact that somebody all the way across the country would come in, especially a 5-year-old little boy, there are angels, and it's amazing how giving and loving they can be, and we are truly appreciated by that.

O'BRIEN: Evan, can you hear me now, Evan?

E. PARNESS: Yes.

O'BRIEN: Just tell me about being five years old and not being afraid to help, how kids can help out.

E. PARNESS: Because there was a fire in California.

O'BRIEN: Right.

E. PARNESS: And it burned down some of the houses, so we're going to give toys and clothes to the kids.

O'BRIEN: And you did a great job.

E. PARNESS: And just clothes and toys.

O'BRIEN: And we're going to say congratulations to you and to dad, as well, Jeff Parness.

O'BRIEN: Daryn, I just wanted to add quickly. We turned up the Web site today. The Web site is NewYorkSaysThankYou.org. And with the help of The Lion's Club, we made it possible so that if anybody goes to it through it with one click, they can make an impact on the folks in Harveson Canyon and help to accelerate the process of them rebuilding their community, and it's at NewYorkSaysThankYou.org.

KAGAN: Absolutely. Well, we wish you well with that. To the Strong family, we wish you well, too, putting your life back together. And I know it's a difficult time for you. Thank you for taking the time out of that to share your story with us. And to Evan and Jeff Parness, thanks for inspiring us, and helping us you kick off our new segment, about everyday heroes.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired December 4, 2003 - 10:31   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: I think you're really going to like this new segment that we're introducing you to this morning. It's called "Everyday Heroes." Today's focus is a 5-year-old boy in New York growing up in the shadows of the 9/11 attacks, and the nation's generosity in the midst of his city's tragedy. He saw news reports on the Southern California wildfires, there he is. He enlisted his dad, who also we have with us, to help create a Web site. It is called NewYorksaysthankyou.org. And through it, money and goods were volunteered for people like Bill and Lorena Strong, who lost their homes in the fires, and they're joining us from Southern California with their kids as well.
Good morning to everybody.

Strongs, I'm going to start with you. Quickly tell us your story of what happened to you and your family during the fires.

BILL STRONG, LOST HOME IN SAN DIEGO WILDFIRES: Well, I was at work at the time, and we got the calm, and she was evacuated, and it was a hard time, you know, and we got what we could out, and that was basically it. It was, you know...

KAGAN: I think we're showing pictures of what is left of your home, which is not much.

STRONG: When we got back to the site, we didn't know if we lost our home or not. And then the next day when we went back, that's what we got to see. We thought there would be a wall standing or something, but I understand it was a pretty hot fire.

KAGAN: Now clear across the country we have Evan and Jeff Parness.

Jeff, we're going to bring you in; you're the dad. You didn't know these families. You didn't know these families in Southern California, but you're watching the news coverage, and you're there with your kids and explain to me the conversation of how you explain to your 5-year-old what is taking place.

JEFF PARNESS, EVAN'S FATHER: I didn't have to explain to him. He got it immediately. We saw a CNN report about a little girl who lost her Halloween costume in a fire, and I asked, Evan, how would you help a girl like this? He said maybe his old toys he doesn't play with, he can mail to his aunt Molly, and she could give to the mother to give to the girl, and I challenged him to dream big. I said there are 35 stories in our building. What if you helped me to collect toys from all the kids in the building. And his eyes lit up, and he said, that's great, we can send lots of toys. We collected so much stuff in two days, we had to rent a U-Haul truck, which we drove cross country, me and two friends, and we put a sign on the side of it, which says, NewYorksaysthankyou.org.

After 9/11, so many people gave New York so much love, we didn't forget that.

KAGAN: Let's bring Evan in here, because he is our hero. Evan, tell me about some of the things you collected for the kids in Southern California.

Evan, can you tell me about some of the things you collected for the kids in Southern California? Can you hear me?

EVAN PARNESS, PHILANTHROPIST: Yes.

KAGAN: OK, tell me about some of the things you collected for the kids in Southern California.

E. PARNESS: Clothes for the grown-ups, and clothes for the kids and clothes for the grown-ups and just clothes for -- I mean just clothes for the kids.

KAGAN: Lots and lots of stuff. That is great.

Jeff, when you drove across the country, did you -- you didn't really have a specific family or neighborhood in mind.

J. PARNESS: Right. What happened was we just had a destination in San Diego, and we were originally coordinating with Father Joe's Village, St. Vincent DePaul, which was a large distribution center. We unloaded there. But then everybody said, go visit this community, Harveson Canyon (ph). It was a town of 388 homes, 287 of them burned. And when I went there, everybody recognized us from the media coverage, and I asked them, how else could we be of help? And they were concerned about the 300 children in the community playing with the debris, and they wanted to outfit a recreation center to have them in a group environment to be distracted.

So I immediately flew back to New York and got my son's school involved, Rhode F. Shalon (ph). And over the weekend, the middle school students collected seven bins of stuff to outfit a recreation room that's being established for the lion's club for the Children of Harveson Canyon. So we went back the next week and brought all the toys from my son's school.

O'BRIEN: Let's bring the Strongs back in here. What is it like to have these strangers, completely across the country, pull up with toys and wonderful things for your kids?

LORENA STRONG, LOST HOME IN SAN DIEGO WILDFIRES: It is an overwhelming support of love that we're getting. In the beginning of the fire, we weren't acknowledged because we were such a unincorporated community, and it's very small. And so we were just overwhelmed the fact that somebody all the way across the country would come in, especially a 5-year-old little boy, there are angels, and it's amazing how giving and loving they can be, and we are truly appreciated by that.

O'BRIEN: Evan, can you hear me now, Evan?

E. PARNESS: Yes.

O'BRIEN: Just tell me about being five years old and not being afraid to help, how kids can help out.

E. PARNESS: Because there was a fire in California.

O'BRIEN: Right.

E. PARNESS: And it burned down some of the houses, so we're going to give toys and clothes to the kids.

O'BRIEN: And you did a great job.

E. PARNESS: And just clothes and toys.

O'BRIEN: And we're going to say congratulations to you and to dad, as well, Jeff Parness.

O'BRIEN: Daryn, I just wanted to add quickly. We turned up the Web site today. The Web site is NewYorkSaysThankYou.org. And with the help of The Lion's Club, we made it possible so that if anybody goes to it through it with one click, they can make an impact on the folks in Harveson Canyon and help to accelerate the process of them rebuilding their community, and it's at NewYorkSaysThankYou.org.

KAGAN: Absolutely. Well, we wish you well with that. To the Strong family, we wish you well, too, putting your life back together. And I know it's a difficult time for you. Thank you for taking the time out of that to share your story with us. And to Evan and Jeff Parness, thanks for inspiring us, and helping us you kick off our new segment, about everyday heroes.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com