Beyond the 11th

I saw an article in a magazine about these two women and how they started this organization with money they received for their loss. Remarkable!

www.beyondthe11th.org

Beyond the 11th exists because of the resilient spirit of Patricia Quigley and Susan Retik, two mothers who were widowed on 9/11. Patti was eight months pregnant with her second child when her husband Patrick was killed while traveling on United Flight 175. Susan was seven months pregnant with her third child when her husband David was killed on American Flight 11.

Patti and Susan were profoundly moved by the support offered by friends, family and strangers from around the world. They were cared for financially and emotionally and today they remain deeply grateful to all who helped them.

When the story of the 9/11 plot emerged, Patti and Susan, along with the rest of the world, learned that those responsible were trained in terrorist camps in Afghanistan. The military campaign to remove the Taliban and terrorist groups from the country drew attention to the plight of the Afghan people. Decades of conflict and strife ravaged the country, leaving tens of thousands of women without husbands to provide for them, a cultural necessity in Afghanistan.

As Patti and Susan struggled to recover from their loss, they felt a growing kinship with the overwhelming number of widows in Afghanistan. They recognized the incredible generosity they received and the absolute scarcity of help for their counterparts in Afghanistan. In 2003, Patti and Susan founded Beyond the 11th to help provide financial and emotional support to these widows and their children and to give them hope for a better future.

The situation for widows in Afghanistan is desperate. While the collapse of the Taliban has resulted in general improvement in the lives of women and girls, these new opportunities are still out of reach to the Afghan widows who lost their only means of support. Illiterate and unskilled, they struggle to provide the most basic of needs - shelter, food, and clothing - for their families. International relief organizations estimate that in Kabul alone, there are 30,000 - 50,000 widows, struggling to support an average of five children on less than $16 per month. In other parts of the country, the situation is even worse.

The picture is from one of their annual fund raising activities...Cycling Forward

Join us for the third annual 250-mile fundraising bike trek from New York City back to Boston. This year’s ride will begin on Friday September 8, 2006, at Ground Zero, the former site of the World Trade Center. Participants joining the “Founders Ride” will ride the entire 250 miles; riders can also do shorter legs, riding 100 miles on Sunday, or the final 30 miles Sunday afternoon