On Sept. 11, L.A. Reached Out to Its Own

For those touched by charity drives in Los Angeles County since the terror of Sept. 11, the donations have let loose a range of emotions.

There’s the sense of gratitude among recipients, and patriotic generosity among donors.

But mixed in with those positive feelings, for some recipients of the money, is a sense of guilt that comes from being among those who survived, and from being the recipient of such heartfelt largess.

The Los Angeles County chapter of United Way raised more than $1 million for terror relief. Most of that money was sent to the organization’s nationwide relief fund. But $329,500 has been divided among 18 families in Los Angeles County that lost loved ones on that dark September day.

The money came from many different sources, but United Way staffers say that one of the largest gifts came from 286 employees at Panda Express restaurants in the area.

People With Least Tend to Give Most

Many of those workers earn relatively little, but they fit a typical profile of donors, organizers said.

“You find that people who give the most are the people who make the least,” said Sandy Mendoza, who ran the United Way’s fund-raising effort for local victims. “They understand the need far greater.”

The checks often were accompanied by small notes or patriotic messages intended for the recipients.

Other key donations came from corporations, including $100,000 from the Mattel Children’s Foundation.

United Way staffers in Los Angeles County launched the fund on the day of the attacks. By the end of the day, they had drafted an advertisement to publicize the fund in local newspapers. They also arranged for a toll-free telephone number to help bring the money in.

The campaign came to dominate Mendoza’s life, first as a professional who promised next-day replies to letters from victims, and then as a friend whom some would call late at night, seeking solace. One widower told her he had lost his heart. Others simply wept. Some were unable to speak directly with her or other United Way staffers, asking friends or relatives to speak for them.

Mendoza started a file of correspondence related to the fund, which grew into a thick binder.

Each of the 18 families of victims received two checks, one in November for $5,000, and another in January for $7,500. Families with children received more.

Mendoza, using news reports and a database of the Sept. 11 victims, found 22 families in Los Angeles County and sent letters to all of them offering help. There was no requirement that the recipients prove they needed the money. All they had to do was sign a form verifying they were who the United Way thought they were.

Nevertheless, four families eligible to receive the funds declined, saying they didn’t need it.

“It was really nice to see that,” Mendoza said.

Gilbert Neira, a retired American Airlines mechanic whose wife was on American Flight 11, was the first to get a check. Even before the letters from United Way went out to next of kin, Neira had heard of the fund and visited Mendoza’s office in downtown Los Angeles.

In a letter to Mendoza later, Neira wrote: “We, the Neira family, found that our country is made of people of all walks of life and that their good feelings and kindness came out in such a way that it makes us feel so proud to be an American.”

As it was for others, Neira’s check from United Way was no financial windfall. But it did help.

The $1 million collected in Los Angeles County was typical of fund-raising efforts throughout California and the nation. Survivors have received help from various funds. The Sept. 11 Fund raised so much money--$425 million--that last month officials asked the public to stop sending money, saying they should help other charities in need.

For Lisa Keller, a Manhattan Beach resident who lost her husband Chad in the terrorist attacks, the money was a help but also largely symbolic. Chad was on American Airlines Flight 77, which crashed into the Pentagon.

“Chad and I had been house-hunting back in August,” Keller said.

“We had no children,” she said, adding that she is sympathetic to those who had to explain the death of a parent to a child. Still, she said, those survivors with children may have a way to move forward that some like herself lack.

“You have something to focus on. Someone to be strong for. I don’t have that,” she said through tears.

The generosity of donors, however, helped her meet her routine expenses without having to dip into the down payment that she and her husband had put away for a house.

Buying a home is still a goal for her--a way of carrying out the plans they had made together.

Other husbands or wives of victims, especially those with children, found themselves facing heavy financial burdens because of the loss of their spouse.

Daughter Is Born 2 Days After Attack

Kellie Lee lost her husband, Danny, a stage carpenter for the singing group Backstreet Boys. He was aboard Flight 11, which crashed into the World Trade Center’s north tower.

Two days later, their daughter Allison was born.

“We were living paycheck to paycheck before the attack,” Lee said. “I had two kids, no money and a lot of debt.”

She said she was forced to move from Van Nuys to her parents’ home in Pennsylvania.

But with the help of agencies such as United Way, she hopes to be able to move back to California and reestablish her life here.

“When I started receiving help,” she says, “I was just so grateful.

“The first time I went to the bank, I cried.”