dojA000159.xml

dojA000159.xml

born-digital

email

yes

no

2001-11-28

Wednesday, November 28, 2001 9:55 PM
Fw: Victim Compensation Funds


----- Original Message -----
Wednesday, November 28, 2001 9:46 PM
Victim Compensation Funds


Thank you for this opportunity to make comments about the Victim Compensation Fund. My husband was killed on September 11 in the first tower that was hit. He was the father of two beautiful 7 and 8 year old boys that were everything to him. All he did that day was go to work to attend a meeting and provide for his family just like many others that day. Our lives have changed in the blink of an eye forever. No amount of money will ever bring him back and compensate us for our loss. That being said - much of our day to day lives can be impacted by this fund.
As I sit here I realize that our day to day living expenses are much more than they used to be. A few examples include:
Childcare - everytime I leave the house without the boys I need to pay a babysitter. My family does not live close by. It is not as if I can now leave them with any babysitter they are both troubled by these past events and good childcare costs lots of money. I also need help just managing on a day to day basis. There is no break and just simply getting dinner on the table or lunches made can be a nightmare. Right now I am lucky that my church and community are pitching in but eventually we need to let them get their lives back and we need to make a new life fwithout my husband. That will be near impossible.
Insurance - Medical insurance rates are about to skyrocket for my family. My husband's employer will continue until next September and then the increases start. First with COBRA benefits for an additional 3 years (About 8 to 10 times what we pay now and that is a bargain) and then to private insurance when it will really go up. My children both have asthma and I have 2 chronic medical conditions and lets face it we will all be in therapy for the next million years. Who will want to insure us, at what rate and because of preexisting condition clauses we will have to carry double coverage for a short period of time.
General repairs and maintaince to our home will now need to be paid for. What my husband used to do will now be farmed out to local professionals i.e. plumbers, lawn care plowing etc. My children have been through so much it is my priority to stay in my home. It is a nice house, not a castle but very comfortable and as with any house needs lots of work that we were doing together.
My husband was a young man, as were most men and women in the building, our income was going up slightly every year as he worked his way up the corporate ladder. He worked long hard hours to provide for us and how and should this be taken into consideration? I don't know.
If this fund is to help the victims we will need to have a clear idea of what we are signing up for, the impact it will have on our finances and exactly what we will be compensated for with the fund. We need a clear idea of what each person will get and what will be deducted from that amount. Will insurance be counted or gifts, grants or charity?
It would be helpful to have an advisory board that included victims' family members to help figure out how to administer the funds. So much of this process has been a nightmare for us the paperwork is overwhelming and it seems as if much of the time it takes forever to get through. Most of the information about aid that is available I have received from other victims' families and the processes that are in place have not been easy especially if you do not live in New York.
Here are two good examples I received my credentials to the Memorial Service in New York at Ground Zero two days after it took place. I called to RSVP as soon as I got the letter. Then I was told I had to pick up my urn of dirt from ground zero even though I live out of state and it would take the whole day to get there and back.
If you can get out to the pier it is easier to get the paper work done to collect aid that is available but that is not possible for me. Thankfully in my state we now have a social worker to help us in this process. One of our senators has really done his job and tried to listen and respond to our needs.
I just don't want this to end up as another fund where you fill out the same pages and pages of information and then it goes nowhere. I'm one of the lucky ones my husband's employer has been great and hopefully when this is all said and done my husband and I were able to afford and make the right benefit decisions. How about the restaurant workers? Will they be taken care of? How about the fact that we paid for all these benefits over the years and were able to plan ahead? How about the fact that some benefits were reduced because of the number of people lost in the company?
These are lots of thoughts and questions and I thank you for the opportunity to respond to you request. Someday I hope to say we are going to be ok and that we are still a family. That will be difficult for my boys without Daddy.

Individual Comment

2001-11-28