Friday, March 01, 2002
Adopted families helped by Cleveland Browns Hero Fund
By HOWIE RUMBERG
Associated Press Writer
NEW YORK — The Cleveland Browns welcomed the relatives of two rescue workers who died in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks into their extended family Thursday.
The ceremony featured about a dozen young children from the families of the fallen officers.
James Smith, husband of New York City police officer Moira Smith, and Dawn McAleese, wife of New York City fireman Brian McAleese, received the first installments of the Browns' long-term financial commitment to the fund. Team owner Al Lerner presented them checks at the NFL office.
“We can't take back your tragedy,” Lerner told family and friends of the victims. “What we can do is show that we are together as a country — that you have a grateful nation to show appreciation.
“We've now become a bigger extended family.”
The team established the Cleveland Browns Hero Fund after the attacks on the World Trade Center to provide financial and emotional support to the families. Lerner and wife Norma, both born in New York, came up with the idea and matched $200,000 in contributions from Cleveland players and personnel.
“When Sept. 11 became a reality, Al Lerner ... and Norma (Lerner) made it clear New York was a very special place to them,” team president Carmen Policy said. “Both were born in Brooklyn, they courted here and married here. Even though they are part of the Cleveland community, they have a special place here.”
Stroking the hand of one of her four children, a teary-eyed and trembling Dawn McAleese accepted the first of yearly $60,000 checks she will receive from Lerner until her 7-month-old son Aidan James turns 18. All of her children are 5 or younger.
“It's tough,” McAleese said. “I appreciate what you've done for us. I wish we could go back to Sept. 10. Brian was one of a kind.”
NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue gave the McAleeses and Smiths gifts from Tiffany's.
“We'll get through all of this if we stay together,” Tagliabue said. “What the Cleveland Browns are doing is really a solid statement of what we (the NFL) are doing, which is stay together as a family.”
The Browns are not limiting their giving to just money. The team intends to be involved with the families throughout the years.
“We're not going to dwell on Sept. 11, but on building relationships with your new aunts and uncles,” Policy said.
The families will be invited to attend two Browns games, one in Cleveland and one on the road each season. Players and staff will correspond with the children throughout the year, there will be holiday gift-giving — “they're the only family who'll get gifts from a defensive lineman,” Policy said — and when the children turn 18, they can serve summer internships with the Browns.
Policy said the Browns relied heavily on liaisons from New York City fire and police departments to choose the families.
“It was a surprise to me, a pleasant surprise,” James Smith, an instructor at the police academy, said after he received the first of 17 annual payments of $40,000. “I'm a Giants fan, but I think they're painting the law office at the police academy Browns colors today.”
The McAleese family received a little help from New York Giants coach Jim Fassel, who met Brian's brother John, also a firefighter, at ground zero.
Lt. John Atwell, a member of Engine 216 with John McAleese, acted as the go-between for the fire department. He said Fassel then contacted the NFL, who turned to the Browns.
John McAleese still goes to ground zero every day to look for his brother's remains.
“We're trying to keep his memory alive,” said Bill Carew, Brian McAleese's captain at Engine 226. “Like the NFL has their stars, he was a shining star of ours.”
When asked why they chose to honor rescue workers, Lerner simply looked at all the uniformed officers in attendance.
“These are people who signed up for jobs out of dedication and good citizenship,” Lerner said, “not out of wealth, prestige or any ego-driven desire.”
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DAUGHERTY: How good is X?
Adopted families helped by Cleveland Browns Hero Fund
