As you know, in 2003 VOICES established a section of our website dedicated to the individual memorial foundations created on behalf of our lost loved ones. What a wonderful tribute these represent! We are eager to update the current listings as needed, and to remind those who have not contacted us about your foundations to do so. More detailed information about this project is listed below to enable you to update this registry. Our goal is to dedicate an individual electronic page to each loved one. In addition, we are establishing a Foundation Advisory Board to advise family members on how to establish a foundation, create a website or plan a memorial fundraising event. Your creative ideas are important to share. If you are interested, please contact our office.

Finally we at VOICES are proud to announce our plans to continue our 9/11 Commemorative anniversary events on September 10th and September 11th at the Marriott Financial Center, in New York City just adjacent to Ground Zero. The fifth anniversary is a very special milestone for all of us - and we have selected "Remember, Reflect and Renew" as our theme. We have big plans to make this a very special time for all of you and welcome your suggestions. Please hold the date now!

Warm Regards,

VOICES is expanding its mental health program and seeking a full-time masters level trained professional to add to the staff. Click here for further information.

VOICES has always felt it is important to document the memorial foundations and events that were established with loving care to honor our loved ones. In 2003, VOICES established a Memorial section on our website to compile and promote these wonderful tributes. In addition, we wanted to identify physical memorial sites around the world that have been built in honor of those who died on 9/11.

As the VOICES memorial project has grown, we have also devoted a special place in VOICES weekly e-Newsletter and hard copy quarterly newsletter to publicize upcoming Memorial Foundation Events. We want to ensure that the 9/11 community and other interested individuals are aware of these living tributes, which embody the heartfelt response of families, friends and the broader community. We are honored to continue this important program in 2006 and hope to dedicate an individual electronic page to each loved one!

Please click here to send us information on your memorial or foundation event. The information will be posted on the VOICES website and included in upcoming e-Newsletters. Or, the form can be downloaded and mailed to our office: Voices of September 11th, 93 Cherry Street, New Canaan, CT 06840. Remember to include photographs and any other pertinent information about your loved one.

Memorial Foundations -- Many family members have established Memorial Foundations in memory of their loved one. Often, these funds are designed to benefit an institution associated with their loved one (such as a scholarship to a particular college, the Boy Scouts etc.) or to promote a quality or value that they embodied.

Memorial Foundation Events -- Memorial Foundation Events are an important way for Memorial Foundations to raise funds to support their organization. VOICES wants to promote your memorial foundation events to the 9/11 community. Contact our office as soon as your 2006 event is scheduled to allow interested participants plenty of time to register or make a donation.

Commemorative Websites -- Many wonderful websites have been established to honor those lost on 9/11. Please provide VOICES with a URL address and we will post a link to a special section of the VOICES website.

9/11 Memorials Built to Commemorate Those Who Died on 9/11 -- 9/11 Memorials were built around the world in memory of those who died on 9/11. Some are small plaques, others large stone monuments. We recognize the importance of identifying these heartfelt memorials as a record of the unprecedented showing of American and international support after 9/11.

Establish an Advisory Board -- VOICES is establishing a VOICES Memorial Foundation Advisory Board. This advisory board will be composed of 9/11 family members and other interested individuals who have established a Memorial Foundation, organized a memorial foundation event or built a personal website. This group of advisors will share advice and other pertinent information with other 9/11 family members who are interested in establishing or enhancing a Memorial Foundation. Please contact our office at (866) 505-3911 if you are interested in participating.

A bill that would require New York State to remove possible remains from the Fresh Kills landfill moved forward in the State Assembly this week. The bill, sponsored by Assemblyman Ryan Karben, D-Monsey, was unanimously approved by the Assembly's Committee on Corporations and Authorities. The bill now advances to the Assembly Ways and Means Committee for consideration.

Assemblyman Karben said that the unanimous approval in Committee is "a great victory for the memory of these victims," as quoted in the Lower Hudson Journal-News, and vowed to work to persuade the rest of the Assembly to approve it. Similar legislation proposed by state Sen. Thomas Morahan, R-New City, previously passed the Senate, as detailed in a June, 2005 Journal-News article. Though the legislative development is encouraging, it does not address what to do with the remains once removed from Fresh Kills. WTC Families for Proper Burial, who have led the fight for respectful burial of all WTC remains, have made several proposals for a final resting place, including an undeveloped site on historic Governor’s Island.

Last Monday, the Gear Up Foundation sponsored their Inaugural Benefit Dinner at Tavern on the Green in Central Park. The event brought together firefighters, civic leaders, and friends of the organization to promote their mission of bringing the gift of saving lives to the developing world. About 230 guests attended the dinner. You can read more about Gear Up Foundation in a Spotlight from last week’s e-Newsletter.

The evening’s program was emceed by Bobby Gaynor, an up-and-coming Broadway performer recently featured in the revival of Sweet Charity. Program highlights included a stirring rendition of God Bless America by famed NYPD tenor Daniel Rodriguez and a performance by members of the Cirque du Soleil Dance Company. Gear Up began their international outreach work in 2002 in Ecuador, and the Benefit Dinner program was influenced by the culture of that South American nation. Jorge Saade-Scaff, Ecuador’s pre-eminent violinist, performed four works by Ecuadorian composers; and Ecuadorian pianist Noreuia Mueckay offered works including “Preludio 9.11,” a meditation on the attacks. The Ecuadorian flavor of the evening extended to the menu, which featured beef in a sauce made with “Espiritu del Ecuador,” an Ecuadorian liqueur made from fruit and nut extracts.

9/11 Family Members (pictured at right with Monica and Vinnie Forras) honored at the Gear Up Foundation event included Valerie Bodoczki, Mary and Frank Fetchet, Marian Fontana, Diane and Kurt Horning, Monica Iken, and Jack and Maureen Lynch. The Family Members were honored for their "courage and leadership in the face of great tragedy and loss," as well as "dedication and hard work in making this world a better place to live."

A presentation of awards for outstanding support of 9/11 first responders concluded the evening. Honorees included former FDNY Commissioner Tom Van Essen, New York Board of Trade official Patrick Gambaro, Rev. William John Weber, Dr. Michael Lonsky, and three Congressional leaders: Steve Israel (D-NY), Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-NY), and Rep. Curt Weldon (R-PA).

VOICES e-Newsletter recently interviewed Gear Up Foundation Chairman and Founder Vincent Forras to learn more about their Benefit Dinner and future plans for this outstanding organization.

VOICES: The event this year was the Inaugural Dinner? Do you have other events planned for the year?

VF: This was our first event in the United States introducing Gear Up and our mission. We are of course, with God’s blessings, looking forward to several events this coming year. We are looking forward to partnering with organizations who see our mission as a noble one, worthy of their support and generosity. We are discussing events coinciding with deliveries of equipment in several countries and also look forward to events here in New York and maybe elsewhere in America.

VOICES: Which Gear Up projects will be funded by the event's proceeds?

VF: I wish I could tell you that we were successful financially with this event, however from our preliminary figures; we will be close to a break-even on this event. I do believe that in spite of this, our event was a great success. Considering the groups and people who shared that evening together, the hope and love that permeated that room we are most definitely on the right track. The support in the way of trucks and equipment promised to our mission that very evening was incredible. I am confident that our mission hit a special chord in many people’s hearts and I believe that it will translate into growing support at many levels in the coming months and years. Programs including delivery of trucks, equipment and training to firefighters in need will continue along with support of our fire safety program for children. It is my hope that corporate support and philanthropic support will be sparked by word of mouth because of our event...read more

A 2004 class action lawsuit accusing Christie Whitman, former head of the Environmental Protection Agency, of making “misleading statements of safety about the air quality” near the World Trade Center has sufficient legal grounds to move forward, a federal judge determined yesterday. The suit charges that residents and schoolchildren of lower Manhattan and Brooklyn were exposed to harmful airborne contaminants after being assured by the E.P.A., on several occasions, that it was safe to return.

In her ruling that the suit can proceed, Judge Deborah A. Batts said, “The allegations in this case of Whitman's reassuring and misleading statements of safety after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks are without question conscience-shocking,” (as quoted in a New York Times article).

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) has been an outspoken advocate for increased Federal funding and support in the face of a looming health crisis for Ground Zero recovery workers and lower Manhattan residents. This week she offered an amendment to a federal bill that would provide compensation to people whose health has been affected by exposure to asbestos. It has been estimated that 2,000 tons of asbestos were released into the air when the Twin Towers collapsed. "These first responders, workers and residents should be allowed to seek compensation for their asbestos injuries," Sen. Clinton is quoted in an Associated Press article, adding they would not be eligible under the current version of the bill.

Congress Extends Patriot Act for 5 Weeks -- Congress sent President Bush a second five-week extension of the Patriot Act as Senate negotiators worked to close a deal with the White House on renewing the antiterrorism law with some new civil liberties protections. (AP)

9/11 Families To See Sentencing -- When terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui is sentenced for conspiring in the 9/11 attacks, his victims' relatives will be watching from New York and around the Northeast, thanks to a closed-circuit TV feed at six federal courthouses. (NY Post)

Excerpts from Pres. Bush State of Union Address -- Excerpts from President George W. Bush's 2006 State of the Union Address regarding 9/11 and the War on Terror. (NY Times)

Some of Bush's Facts Don't Tell Whole Story -- President Bush received a roaring ovation Tuesday night for his prime-time defense of domestic surveillance without warrants. But Bush's explanation relied on assumptions that have been widely questioned. (LA Times)

A Strong Statement on National Security -- President George W. Bush’s State of the Union address was short on specifics about national security but strong on the fundamentals, describing the ends, ways, and means that it takes to be a free, strong, and prosperous nation. (Heritage Foundation)

Click for a list of ongoing medical offerings for Ground Zero workers