Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live At Daybreak

WTC Victims' Families Cope With Loss

Aired October 11, 2001 - 08:39   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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: CNN's Elizabeth Cohen is at a firehouse in midtown Manhattan with another story of coping. These stories go on and on and on, don't they, Elizabeth?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They sure do, Paula. It's so sad. There's just one after another.

At this firehouse alone, which is engine 54, ladder four, they lost 15 firefighters. And these men weren't just firefighters. You can see from the photos behind me, they were husbands, they were fathers. And they've put these photos up to memorialize them. And people have sent flowers from all over the world. People have sent candles; I've seen one with Catholic saints, I've seen Jewish candles and flowers sent from all over. Children have sent memorials, have written letters.

And I want to take you over here because I want to read the names of each of the 15 firefighters that died from this company. Some 343 New York City firemen died -- firefighters died at the World Trade Center, and they put the 15 from this company up here: Al Fineburg (ph), Dave Wooley (ph), Jose Guadalupe (ph), Ed Gaerty (ph), Chris Santora (ph), Joe Angelini (ph), John Tipping (ph), Carl Lazarro (ph), Glen Ragaglea (ph), Dan O'Callahan (ph), Mike Hobbes (ph), Mike Brennan (ph), Mike Lynch (ph), Paul Gill (ph), Sam Oteef (ph).

I have spoken with many families, both right in the aftermath of September 11 and since then who lost relatives. In the beginning, a month ago, they had hoped -- they truly had hoped that they would find them. Now a month later, all the ones that I've spoken to, they're coping. And they're coping in a variety of ways.

And I want to talk about coping with our guest here today, Anthony Gardner. Anthony lost his older brother, Harvey Gardner. This is his brother Mark, and this is Harvey, who was lost in the World Trade Center.

Tell me how your -- underneath your sweater, you have a necklace.

ANTHONY GARDNER, BROTHER OF WTC VICTIM: I am still wearing the necklace that I had on when we first met on the street outside the armory. I wore it -- I went to my brother's apartment after this happened, I put it on just to keep him close to my heart and keep hope alive. And in honor of my brother and all the other victims, and living victims out there, we created a support network called WTC United Family Group. And basically what we're trying to do is provide -- we're planning on holding annual and periodic meetings as a means of providing emotional and psychological support. And I've met with people, officials from different government agencies at the Family Center who stress also that it's so important now that we have -- we provide a centralized forum for these families to have information posted that pertains to them. It's not just the families, it's the living victims as well; it's the friends, families, everyone.

The third goal would be to create a centralized voice so that we may have a power to influence legislation down the road regarding acts of terrorism and post-memorial tributes for our loved ones.

And finally, by coming together, uniting together, we will honor our loved ones and get a message out to the terrorists, to the world, that the American spirit is unbreakable.

And right now as we move forward, I'm happy to announce that we've had -- we've created an alliance with POMC. It's a non-profit organization, and they are supporting us at this point. However, we still are in desperate need of funding. We're reaching out to corporate sponsors. We have several corporate sponsors that have expressed interest. But we also need help right now, because we want to plan the logistics of our first official meeting, and depending on the scale and the response that we get, is dependent on how much funding we're going to need.

So basically corporate sponsors, if they can call either one of these numbers: 973-259-9118 or 973-759-1324. It's so important for us to secure some corporate sponsorship right now so that we can move forward, that we can provide the resources that we're going to need to provide to these families so that we can come together.

And actually, any American out there that is interested in mailing us a donation, this is our address here: P.O. Box 1910, Bloomfield, New Jersey 07003. And I happy to say that we also have our -- received our first donation, and we're ready to move forward. And I just wanted to present you with a pen that has our logo on it, and our slogan "A Tower of Strength" and thank you for all your kindness and your compassion through all this.

COHEN: Well, thank you Anthony. Anthony, like all of the family members, is coping in his own way. He started a support group. Other people have started scholarship funds. But it's the beginning of the signs they're trying to cope without the people that they've lost.

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