Foundation focuses on children of WTC victims
Group has distributed $70,000 for 15 children who lost a parent
HOLMDEL — After her husband was killed in the World Trade Center attacks Sept. 11, Petrina Picerno was worried about her finances and how she was going to afford her three children’s after-school activities, including ballet and music lessons. She no longer needs to worry.
For months now, the Holmdel Victims Relief Education Foundation has been collecting money for the 15 township children who lost a parent. In December, the foundation began disbursing the $70,000 it had collected.
"Thanks to the enormous support of the residents and friends of Holmdel, the foundation was able to distribute its first round of checks to the families within the community who were affected," explained board member John DeMuria.
"In order to make sure that the children receive every penny that is collected, 100 percent of the administrative cost to run the foundation is being supplied by the board of trustees," he added.
"For an entire year, I don’t have to worry about where I am going to get the money for dance and music lessons," Picerno said. "Each week, there are three piano lessons, one drum lesson, one guitar lesson and a ballet lesson," she said.
"It is truly amazing. The amount of people in this town alone who really care is just unbelievable," she said. "I am really surprised at the gift from the foundation. The United Way has a cap of $10,000 per family, and here I received $9,000 from Holmdel. The kids are relieved to have received this money, and I am eternally grateful."
"We really wanted to help our neighbors," said board Vice President Frank Pento, who was grateful the organization was able to collect so much money and disperse it so quickly.
"What the foundation is really about is letting these children know that they are loved and cared about. This is just a token that allows them to keep playing sports, playing the piano, going to preschool and other things like that," he added.
The money is being dispersed to families to pay for such services as day care, tutoring, counseling, art therapy, and different forms of cultural education.
"The idea is to keep the money flowing to the children as soon as it comes in to us," DeMuria said. The group will be dispersing $25,000 to $30,000 more at the end of January.
"These families have had a really hard time. We are just trying to make things a little bit easier for them. That is our mission," said Pento, who is also president of the Holmdel Board of Education.
Tax-deductible donations can be sent to: Holmdel Victims Relief Education Foundation, P.O. Box 431, Holmdel, NJ 07733.