Teresa Mathai, an Indian American woman who lost her husband in the horrible 9-11 tragedy heads the initiative called the Mass 9-11 fund which is run by a coalition of the victims families in the hope of addressing the real needs of these families who live in Massachusetts. She met with the Indo-American solidarity day committee, which is planning an event to honor the victims of 9-11 on Sunday, September 15, 2002 between 2:00 – 4:00 pm in Mechanics Hall in Worcester, MA and to raise funds for the Mass 9-11 fund.

“On behalf of the families of the victims I would truly like to express my sincere thanks to all of you for being so kind as to think of us. All of you who are trying to help in anyway you can are the unsung heroes of the war against terrorism,” said Teresa. “I absolutely love the fact that all Indian organizations are doing things together so that there is very little waste in terms of efforts and resources”. As she was speaking to us, she dropped the glass of water that she was holding. “This is what such a tragedy does to us. It is so long and yet my hands do not stop shaking”.

When asked about the goal of the Mass 9-11 fund she said, “the unfortunate truth is that while millions of dollars have been collected the families of the victims in Massachusetts have not received a dime. But more than the money, the families of the victims have very special needs and it is to address these needs that the Mass 9-11 fund was established. There are 177 families in Massachusetts. The needs of each family are so different. For a simple example, I was a stay at home mom and now suddenly I am a single mother and anywhere I go I need a reliable baby sitter.”

In addition to raising funds, the Mass 9-11 fund hopes to use the attention that the tragedy has received to change laws so that in the future, families of the victims of any tragedy find it a little easier to get appropriate assistance. This group tries to present the victim family’s viewpoint. “The event is constantly being talked about on TV. It is so hard especially for children of the victims to watch this. We try to present our perspective to the news media as much as possible,” says Teresa.

While it was clear that she was certainly suffering on the inside, it was inspirational to see how Terasa had a turned a tragedy into a positive force to make a difference in the world at large. The Indo-American Solidarity Day foundation urges all to come to the extremely important event where we show our support for the victims of a tragedy that struck right next to our homes.

For more information on the Indo-American Solidarity Day event, please visit their website at http://www.solidarityday.org.

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