May 18, 2007

DEAR FAMILIES AND FRIENDS,

Yesterday we held two 9/11 Living Memorial workshops at the Massachusetts 9/11 Fund offices in Boston. It was wonderful to learn more about the organization created by family members specifically to support those living outside the New York City area. Because the workshop was held in Boston, a number of family members represented victims who were passengers on the airplanes. They shared their stories as well as a magnificent memorial booklet created by the Mass 9/11 Fund to honor their loved ones.

Our special thanks go to Ted Livingston, Executive Director of the Mass 9/11 Fund, and Diane Nealon, Program Director, for organizing the event. We look forward to visiting Massachusetts again and are currently planning workshops in Philadelphia and New York City in the coming months.

This week, our Features section is dedicated to Amy Toyen, a Massachusetts resident who was attending a trade show at the WTC. I was moved by a comment from Amy's grandmother: "She had a good life. It was just not long enough." I know many of us share this same sentiment. We are also proud to pass along information about memorial foundation events in memory of Christopher Santora and Richard Keane. Please let us know if you are planning an upcoming event that you would like to share with the 9/11 community.

As always, please feel free to contact us if we can be of any assistance.

Warm Regards,

Mary Fetchet

Founding Director

Thank You Boston Families!

Thanks to all family members who attended the 9/11 Living Memorial Workshops yesterday in Boston. A special thanks also to the staff of the Massachusetts 9/11 Fund for hosting the event. More 9/11 Living Memorial Workshops are planned for the near future in the Philadelphia and New York City areas. Stay tuned to the VOICES Weekly e-Newsletter for the latest updates.

Family Tribute to Amy Toyen

Amy Toyen didn't work at the World Trade Center. A Connecticut native living in Massachusetts, Amy lost a coin toss at work and had to travel down to New York to present a product from Thomson Financial to potential clients at the WTC. The trade show on the 106th floor of the North Tower was just getting started around 9am.

Amy Toyen loved reading, loved travel, loved her family and her fiance Jeff. He surprised her in March 2001 with a trip to Ireland and proposed on a windswept cliff overlooking the Gap of Donloe in Killarney. They celebrated with Champagne. Amy's family and friends remember on her Family Tribute page:

"Amy was a very kind, caring person…the type of person that was friends with both the popular people as well as the people that no one notices. After all this time, I know what I’ve come to realize… it’s important to be a little kinder and more understanding to your fellow human beings. I struggle with it every day… but if everyone spent more time trying to listen to what the other is trying to say… the world would be a much better place to live. If 9/11 stands for anything, it should be a time trying to understand one another and try to really make the world a better place because life is precious and too damn short to spend it hating other people and living in ignorance..." --Jeffrey Gonski, Amy's Fiance

"We had just ordered her wedding dress. She was so happy in her life — a woman in love, who loved her job." --Martin Toyen, Amy's Father

"She loved the theater. She loved to draw and to write. She was serene, easygoing, but not a pushover. She was firm when she believed in something. And she was a good friend. As my mother says, 'She had a good life. It was just not long enough.'' -- Doreen Toyen, Amy's Mother

Thanks to the Toyen family and Jeffrey Gonski for sharing their moving remembrances and wonderful pictures with the 9/11 Living Memorial. Click to view past 9/11 Living Memorial Features. If you would like to add a Family Tribute for your loved one to the 9/11 Living Memorial website, please contact Debbie Westfal at (203) 966-3911 or toll free at (866) 505-3911. Or send her an email: 911livingmemorial@voicesofsept11.org

Red Cross Promotes Preparedness in New York City

Tuesday, June 11, 2007
Prepare NY Seminar
Time 11am – 11:45am

Location: J W Johnson Senior Center
2205 First Avenue, New York City

Prepare New York is a free 45-minute emergency preparedness presentation teaching New York City residents how to create a plan, build a supply kit, and keep loved ones safe and informed during times of disaster.

Participants walk away with an interactive CD that can be used to create a customized evacuation plan and other tools that will help any family get prepared. Also included are various brochures from the American Red Cross and the New York City Office of Emergency Management, as well as a quiz to test the attendee's emergency preparedness knowledge. Visit the website to register or call 212-875-2177 for more information. The program is free of charge.

Congress Supports Job Protection for Emergency Volunteers

An amendment to the 2007-08 Homeland Security authorization act would protect the jobs of volunteer firefighters and other emergency volunteers who respond to a federally-declared emergency. "We thank the cosponsors and supporters of this legislation for their efforts. These firefighters and EMS personnel should not have to worry about their jobs back home, when responding with their departments to national events like Hurricane Katrina,” Chief Jim Harmes, president of the International Association of Fire Chiefs, is quoted in Fire Chief Magazine coverage.

Oregon Rejects $665 Million Radio System Overhaul

The Oregon Legislature rejected Gov. Ted Kulongoski's (D) plan to spend $665 million for a statewide public safety radio network because the proposal was too vague and would cost nearly $200 for every man woman and child in Oregon. Rep. Donna Nelson (R), is quoted in Oregonian coverage: "I've never seen anything like what's happening here in all my years of being here -- to establish something that is so huge and so serious" without more detail. "I don't know how on earth we can approve this without a plan and a budget." Oregon's plan, while sketchy on details, called for more coverage, more towers, higher system capacity and newer technology than most other states. The Legislature appropriated $6.8 million to study alternative plans.

Law Would Provide Immunity for Reports of Suspicious Activity

Praising the role of a New Jersey video store clerk in exposing the Fort Dix conspiracy, federal lawmakers have moved to protect people reporting suspicious activity from lawsuits. "Law-enforcement officials have noted that their investigation was triggered by an alert clerk's report that a customer had brought in a video that showed men firing weapons and shouting in Arabic, which reminded him of the 9/11 terrorists," Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) explained to the Senate last Friday, as quoted in United Press International coverage. "Protecting citizens who make good-faith reports of potentially lethal activities is essential to maintaining our homeland security."

The key phrase in the legislation is "good faith," a caveat inserted to address fears that certain groups would become targets of vindictive or frivolous investigations. The bill was introduced in the Senate last Friday by Chairman Joseph Lieberman, I-CT, and ranking member Susan Collins, R-ME, of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and co-sponsored by Sen. Jon Kyl, R-AZ. Reps. Peter King, R-NY, and Steve Pearce, R-NM, and Bill Schuster, R-PA, introduced companion legislation in the House on Monday.