By Stephenie Steitzer
The Cincinnati Enquirer

WILDER - What started as a small fund to honor two brothers and help their alma mater three years ago has grown into a major Northern Kentucky charity.

Friends and family established the Kenny and Brian Williams Fund in 2001 to commemorate the Edgewood brothers: Kenny, who died from injuries sustained in a fall from a skywalk, and Brian, who died in the World Trade Center Sept. 11.

"Both (Brian) and Kenny, if they had lived, would've come to Cincinnati and helped people like we're trying to help people now," their father, Ken Williams, 58, said.

Williams said he expects the non-profit group to raise between $80,000 and $125,000 at the 7:30 p.m. benefit at the Marquise Banquet and Conference Center in Wilder Nov. 26. The benefit will feature a silent and live auction, raffle, music, hors d'oeuvres and drinks.

Among the items to be auctioned include a trip to Las Vegas and a trip to Los Angeles to see "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno."

Williams said the fund started when friends and family asked how they could help after Brian's death Sept. 11. He told them to contribute to Covington Catholic High School, where he, Kenny, Brian and their brother Andy graduated.

So much money was donated to the school's capital improvement fund that the brothers' friends decided to start a fund to help other charities.

Brian Williams was a 29-year-old Cantor Fitzgerald broker when he was killed in the terrorist attacks. His brother Kenny was a 22-year-old University of Kentucky graduate when he slipped off a downtown skywalk after a Reds game. He was in a coma for three years and three months before he died.

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For more information about the fund or the benefit, contact Ken Williams at (959) 341-5187 or visit www.kbwilliamsfund.org