[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 67 (Wednesday, May 22, 2002)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E876]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     RECOGNITION OF EILEEN KAVANAGH

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. VITO FOSSELLA

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, May 21, 2002

  Mr. FOSSELLA. Mr. Speaker, I hereby request that these comments be 
placed in the appropriate part of the Congressional Record:
  This past fall, the Staten Island Advance, the Staten Island 
Children's Campaign and my office joined together to raise money for 
families of victims of the World Trade Center tragedy. We established a 
non-profit named The Staten Island September 11th Fund and were 
successful in raising more than $1.2 million for families of victims 
from Staten Island.
  The person who made the whole program work, the one who dealt with 
every family and every single application received, was Eileen 
Kavanagh.
  Without relinquishing or compromising any of her myriad daily duties 
serving as executive secretary to the editor of the Staten Island 
Advance, she took on for six months the tremendous amount of work 
associated with The Staten Island September 11th Fund. That work 
included reviewing and processing the more than 200 applications 
received, handling all inquiries concerning benefits and donations and 
serving as the liaison between the Fund and the bank handling the 
account. This work included receiving and creating computerized records 
of thousands of donations totaling almost $1.3 million, sending written 
acknowledgments to all donors, making necessary bank deposits and, in 
the end, writing the almost 200 checks that the fund dispensed.
  Perhaps most importantly, she showed the ability to balance both the 
sensitivity needed to deal with families of the September 11th attacks 
and the objectivity needed to reflect the strict requirements 
established for the administration of the Fund. From trying to explain 
the fund to a widow who lost her firefighter husband and who is 
struggling to raise their children alone and at the same time consoling 
and empathizing with her to explaining it to a woman who lost her 
father and is doing everything she can to help her mother to accepting 
thousands of donations from
  To sum it all up, Eileen Kavanagh was able to do all of this with 
accuracy, understanding and compassion. She made the very difficult 
situation for many family members seeking financial assistance a lot 
easier for them because of that compassion. Sometimes, a family member 
of a victim just wants to hear a friendly voice on the other end--to 
talk--to be understood and listened to--Eileen did this gracefully. She 
did not do it for any monetary compensation, or for public attention, 
but simply to help her friends, neighbors--fellow Staten Islanders who 
were so devastated by the tragic events of September 11th. She provides 
us with an excellent example of the goodness that truly does exist in 
people--a goodness that we should all strive to share and attain.
  Staten Island suffered a great loss on September 11th. Hundreds of 
men and women were lost--husbands, wives, mothers, fathers, sons, 
daughters, aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins, friends, neighbors and 
loved ones. All of our lives were forever changed--but the deeds of 
people like Eileen have eased the burden a bit--and have given us all a 
little more strength to carry on and hope for the future.

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