Disaster Tech

September 11th: Tuesday's Children

Sep 9, 2022 11:09:20 AM / by Jaclyn Silvestri posted in Insider, 9/11, Tuesday's Children

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September 9, 2022

"It goes back to September 11th, 2001. I'm in the city, 4 blocks away from the World Trade Center. I hear a noise that sounded like a freight train buzz, while I am on the 15th floor of my building in my office. I look out the window to see a plane high up in the air and then the plane hits the first tower, I couldn't believe it. I then head outside to see what is going on, looking at the situation from a humanitarian point of view and then from a firematic point of view." says Roger Coleman, 28 year lifetime member and former 6 year Fire Chief of the 8th Battalion, Co-Founder & President of Disaster Tech, and Founding Board Member & Chairman of Tuesday's Children.

"I was standing there looking at all of those people's lives lost, it was such a tragedy. As I am praying, I see what looks like a drunken driver flying a plane. It sweeps down towards Lady Liberty and comes up the back, swoops down again and bam, slams into the second tower. That was when I said to myself, 'holy cow, we are under attack!' I got home as soon as I could to Manhasset, got hosed off in the front lawn and took a hot shower to clean the debris from the towers off of me. I immediately then jumped into my truck and headed to the Firehouse where we had been called into the city for support. It's not my story, it's the aftermath of what 9/11 had left us with. 42 of our Manhasset neighbors never made it home, husbands and wives had lost their spouses, mothers and fathers had lost their children, children had lost one or even both of their parents, and we as a community needed to be there to support them all. We originally came together to make sure they were fed, that they felt loved, and that they knew they were not alone. Within all of us coming together to support those grieving, we realized how much bigger it was than us and we quickly realized we needed to bring in professional help. That marked the start of Tuesday's Children. We came up with the idea on a Tuesday and knew it was time that we worry about the 3,000+ children and families that were suddenly without their mom and/or dad, and the spouses who were left without their husband or wife, and that we needed to provide them with the programs, tools, and support for a lifetime of healing for the families" says Coleman.

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