A foundation to aid the families of local victims of the World Trade Center disaster is being hastily put together by a group of area residents who are assembling a network to help their neighbors throughout the county.
The Alliance of Neighbors of Monmouth County Inc. will offer comfort, support and assistance to surviving family members upon whom concerns — ranging from mortgage payments to childcare to fragile health — weigh heavily.
"The real story here is how people have come together," said Rick Korn of Rumson, an alliance organizer. "Everyone has put issues and egos aside and genuinely want to help. The great thing is that this is neighbors helping neighbors."
Among the founders of the Alliance of Neighbors are Red Bank Mayor Edward J. McKenna Jr.; Korn, a record and film producer; Danny Murphy, Red Bank restaurateur; Corinda Carford, Rumson, freelance publicist; James Wassel, Rumson; and Bill Ayers, New York, executive director of World Hunger Year.
Organizers say the Alliance will provide immediate and long-term help to families and aim to provide them with an advocate for their needs.
According to Korn, help to victims’ families is already under way. By last week, the Alliance was helping to meet the financial obligations of a local woman who had not yet received life insurance benefits due in the death of her husband.
In another case, Korn said, help with childcare is being arranged by Alliance volunteers for a wife whose high-risk pregnancy keeps her bedridden and who depended on her late husband for help in caring for the couple’s three young children.
"The short-term issues are easy to solve," he added. "They’re usually financial. The long-term issues are more difficult, and we’ve recruited volunteers like insurance and legal professionals."
About 100 volunteers have already come forward. Korn said they are organized into committees to help with the needs of the 80 to 150 Monmouth County families he estimated have been affected by the World Trade Center disaster.
"Our goal is that we will have a person in their town for each family, who will be that family’s representative to bring their issues and problems to the board of the foundation," he said.
"The major part of it is to create an organization to help the survivors with the resources they need to go on with their lives," Ayers explained.
"The second, larger focus is the other casualties and victims, the people affected by the tragedy in an economic sense, such as those who have lost businesses or jobs. We need to have a sense of solidarity in our country and in each community," said Ayers, adding that the alliance will also channel funds back into the community through organizations that are already in place.
The roots of the Alliance of Neighbors evolved from the collaboration of Ayers and Korn on World Hunger Year benefits. The two organized this year’s concert as a tribute to early rock ’n’ roll label Sun Records at the Count Basie Theatre, Red Bank. According to Ayers, when the organization decided to cancel the benefit following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, McKenna, a World Hunger Year supporter, suggested refocusing on disaster relief instead.
"When disaster struck, we needed to change the focus," said McKenna, who has been involved with World Hunger Year for more than a decade. "We had a much more immediate problem to deal with."
While a major share of the funds raised will go to the Alliance of Neighbors, a portion will benefit World Hunger Year, Ayers added.
The benefit concerts and a silent auction at the Count Basie Theatre are scheduled for Oct. 18 and 19.
Tickets for the concerts, which sold for $150 to $500, were already sold out through word of mouth by the time news of the concerts was officially released last week.
Organizers estimate that the concerts will raise $600,000 to $700,000 to benefit the Alliance of Neighbors.