FDNY Firefighters Give 'Hope and Heroes' Awards to Houston Area Students
For 9-11 Art
HOUSTON, Sept. 10 /PRNewswire/ -- Firefighters from the New York City Fire
Department gave awards to nine Houston students in the Operation FDNY
Teambuild Hope and Heroes Art Contest on Thursday, September 5th.
FDNY Lieutenants and Special Operations Commanders' William Reddan and
James D'Avolio presented the awards at The Art Institute of Houston on
Thursday, September 5th, attended by several hundred students, teachers and
family. In attendance also, was Houston Fire Chief Chris Connealy with
several members of the Houston and League City Fire Departments.
Both Lt. Reddan and Lt. D'Avolio arrived at The World Trade Center as the
second tower was collapsing and worked at the Ground Zero recovery operations
for days at a time, and over several months. Lt. Reddan lost 12 firefighters
from his squad, while Lt. D'Avolio lost 19 firefighters. As Special
Operations Commanders, they are considered the "elite" of the FDNY.
Operation FDNY Teambuild is a non-profit organization started in Houston
after September 11th to raise funds to help rebuild the FDNY and strengthen
the Houston Fire Department and build relationships between youth and fire
services. Through their efforts, including the Hope and Heroes Art Contest,
they will be providing over $1.25 million of computer-based-training software
and hardware to both departments to help modernize and automate the training
of firefighters. Local businessman, Elliott Lander, president of ATR,
initiated Operation FDNY Teambuild in October 2001, through the donation of
his company's software and services. HP-Compaq provided desktops, laptops,
servers and iPAQS totaling over $400,000.
"Our goal was to make training easier and more efficient for the
firefighters," stated Lander. "We are putting in multimedia training PCs in
every firehouse in New York City and Houston enabling firefighters to take
much of their training or refresher training at the firestation, instead of
sitting in a classroom across town. Every time the guys in the firehouse have
to go off-site for training, the firehouse shuts down, increasing the response
time to a fire or accident, putting citizens and firefighters at greater
risk."
The Hope and Heroes Art Contest encouraged the area youth to reflect on
the events and aftermath of September 11th and express their feelings through
art. Over 100 students participated from 27 Houston Middle and High Schools.
Lt. Reddan commented during the awards ceremony, "This art and the efforts of
the Houston students was overwhelming and provides much-needed encouragement
to the men and women who sacrificed so much. The intensity of pain that we
experienced in losing so many members and friends was enormous. Seeing the
art, we could feel the students saying to us 'You can get over the wall,'
providing us with encouragement to keep going. As representatives of the New
York City Fire Department, I want to say to all Houstonians that participated
in our massive rebuilding effort, 'Thank you.'"
Winners of the Hope and Heroes Art Competition are as follows:
Best in Show Anna Arnett Clear Creek "Lost Thought"
High School
First Place Ashley Wedekind Clear Creek "Safety"
High School
Second Place Tyrone Moore Stratford "Unity in the
High School Face of Evil"
Third Place Clay Rodery Clear Creek "Wide Awake"
High School
Honorable Mention Tysheka Ausbie Mayde Creek "Faces of a Fireman"
High School
Honorable Mention Somala Muhammed Eisenhower "America Together"
High School
Honorable Mention Jenny Cho Cinco Ranch Unnamed
High School
Honorable Mention Amber Noel Mayde Creek "Sorrow's Ash"
Nathan High School
Honorable Mention Nikolai Petsev Space Center "The Day After"
Intermediate
The top 4 winners will receive a total of $7,500. Anna Arnett, the 10th
grade student, whose work "Lost Thought" earned her $3,500, also received a
scholarship from the Art Institute of Houston for $3,700. The Houston
students are also receiving an expenses-paid trip to New York City in October,
where they will be presented with additional awards by the FDNY Commissioner
and have an opportunity to meet and spend time with the firefighters, drive
fire equipment and tour the city. Operation FDNY Teambuild is looking to
auction the entire "9-11 Reflection" Collection to help raise additional funds
for the program.
Lts. Reddan and D'Avolio also received a hero's welcome at special
ceremonies hosted by Clear Creek and Eisenhower High Schools on September 5th.
Escorted by the Houston Fire Department, the FDNY heroes were greeted by
20 members of the League City Fire Department. The Clear Creek band played
the National Anthem, and were greeted by various local dignitaries, including
Dr. Wilson, superintendent of Clear Creek ISD. The firefighters, joined by
Captain Mike Herman of HFD then reviewed the art from the participating
students and talked about their experiences during and after September 11th.
At Eisenhower, a 4-girl choir group sang "God Bless America" after being
received by the school Honor Guard. The students had the opportunity to ask
the firefighters questions and share their feelings.
Lt. D'Avolio stated, "We were very impressed with the depth of the
feelings expressed by these students. The art was very professional and helps
us in the healing and recovery process. We don't feel like heroes, we did our
job. The inspiration and encouragement we received from these students and
the city of Houston through Operation Teambuild lets us know that America is
behind us and there is tremendous hope for our future."
Operation FDNY Teambuild is a non-profit, 501c3 Texas corporation founded
to provide long-term emergency relief help for the 17,000 FDNY firefighters
and 3,500 Houston fire and rescue workers through advanced computer-based-
training and e-learning management systems. Teambuild was formed through the
efforts of Houston software developer ATR, and will be providing over
$1.25 million of support to help automate and streamline training to increase
training efficiencies and help reduce the training costs. For more
information, http://www.operationteambuild.org or http://www.atrco.com .
SOURCE ATR
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Related links:
http://www.operationteambuild.org
http://www.atrco.com
CONTACT:
media, Elliott Lander or Donna Summers,
+1-281-955-0084, or +1-832-797-6851, for ATR
NOTE TO EDITORS: Photos and video footage available.
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