BILL HOFFMANN
NY Post Online
October 16, 2001 -- An 8-year-old Massachusetts girl is making life more bear-able for the kids of firefighters, cops and rescue workers lost at the World Trade Center disaster - cheering them up with teddy bears.
"I wanted to help out the children who were affected," said Sara Strugger, a fourth-grader at Gates Elementary School in Acton, Mass.
So she raised $150 worth of pennies from fellow students and got four toy companies - Russ Toys, Applause Inc., Boyds Collection and Build-A-Bear - to donate teddys.
She and her stepdad, Alan Baren, then contacted the mayor's Twin Towers Fund to help them distribute hundreds of stuffed bears.
Closer to home, two nightclubs - NV 289 in SoHo and NV Tsunami in East Hampton - held fund-raisers over the past week, collecting a total of $25,000 for the fund.
Among the guests who showed at the SoHo benefit last Friday were firefighters from Ladder 5 at Sixth Avenue and West Houston Street, which lost 11 of its men in the Sept. 11 attack.
Meanwhile, Henri Bendel and BeneFit Cosmetics are throwing their weight behind the Twin Towers Fund.
From Nov. 4 to 10, Bendel will host a weeklong promotion to launch BeneFit's newest product, "Kitten Shops New York City" powder. Proceeds from every BeneFit product will go to the fund that week.
The mayor established the Twin Towers Fund to ensure support for families of uniformed workers affected by the disaster is coordinated, responsive, responsible and accountable.
Proceeds are earmarked for families of uniformed members of the FDNY and Emergency Medical Service, NYPD, Port Authority, Court Administration and other agencies. If resources permit, the families of others who died or were injured in the devastation may be included as beneficiaries. The fund has received pledges of $79 million to date.
Those who wish to give a tax-deductible donation should include their name, address, employer or other contact information with their gift. Information is available at nypost.com, nyc.gov or libertyunites.org.
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