Wife of Flight 93 Hero Gets Cold Shoulder from 9/11 Charities

NewsMax ^ | 12/13/01

[SarahW]

I'm gonna find her address and make a small donation. DIRECTLY.

[summer]

bttt

[PeoplesRepublicOfWashington]

Don't forget funeral expenses--that's not an everyday expense item, you know.

[PeoplesRepublicOfWashington]

We need to form a charity to care for the victims of the United Way.

[Question_Assumptions]

However, I would like to ask two questions. Who thinks Jeremy Click earned $10,000/month?

You mean, $120,000 per year? I do. He lived in New Jersey and was described in one web bio as:

Glick has been one of the top performing sales managers of the San Mateo, Calif.-based Vividence since he joined the company in May 2000.

It is possible that he was making even more than that.

And why is his wife "tapped out" after three months when she received $30,000?

FYI, property taxes of $5,000 per year are not uncommon in New Jersey, auto insurance can run in the $1,000 - $2,000 per year range. Good houses cost over $150,000 and newer homes can run easily into the $400,000 to $500,000 range. Assume that they were living at their means, she could easily be paying $2,500 to $3,000 or maybe much more per month in morgage payments and property taxes. A nice car can run you $300 to $400 per month or more. Assume they had two. So that's probably another $800 per month for the cars and insurance. None of this would have been extravagent in New Jersey if he had the salary to support it. Do I really need to go on? If anyone has the name of the town he lived in (some quick searches didn't turn it up for me), we can find the average home cost and property taxes there if you really want.

[JD86]

No, please read my entire response. I agree that she is entitled to a share of the money given for victims. My question is why is she totally tapped out when she has received $30,000 in three months? Surely that covered her husband's take home pay???

[Austim]

However, I would like to ask two questions. Who thinks Jeremy Click earned $10,000/month? And why is his wife "tapped out" after three months when she received $30,000? There is something about these victim stories that don't add up. These people lost a family member, they didn't win the lottery.

Great point. A couple months ago I saw a widow of a WTC victim on the Factor. Her husband was a bond trader for Kantor-Fitz and she claimed that they had always lived paycheck to paycheck and now she was broke and the United Way and Red Cross had not helped. Sad story until you realize that a bond traders make between 200k to 1.5 million a year. How can someone with that kind of income live paycheck to paycheck?

[JD86]

I agree all victims of 9/11 should be treated the same.

[JD86]

Unfortunately, I don't think there were any bodies recovered from Flight 93 for a funeral.

[texgal]

I don't recall where Jeremy Glick worked, but most employers have life insurance. If he was on business he should get worker's comp. too, I believe. Also, he probably had a retirement and/or 401K fund. Mrs. Glick needs to contact his employer immediately!! I know for years 'they' have been telling women to be aware of family finances to they don't get left out like this when their spouse dies. She should IMMEDIATELY go to her local Social Security office. She should be eligible for survivor benefits for her and her children. With these funds she is entitled to secure, she won't have to spin her wheels with the charities, which do seem to focus on the WTC survivors. I am so sorry though that nobody has told her that she is eligible for these benefits, etc.

In these days of trimmed down benefits, it's not unusual that he may not have had life insurance or 401K. In the event that he did have 401k savings, there's a 30% tax penalty for cashing in early - no exemptions for death of a spouse. I don't know about New York, but in Texas Workman's Comp is only for injured workers, not a benefit for the survivors of someone who has died. Her children are eligible for social security benefits due to their father's death. It's quite likely that she is in dire financial straits due to expenses of a home mortgage, car payments, etc.

[Question_Assumptions]

Go to a real estate site and do some searches for property in the nicer areas of New Jersey. In Warren, for example, a tiny two bedroom, one bathroom cottage will set you back nearly $300K. For up and coming types, $500K homes are pretty common in areas of North Jersey. Frankly, I suspect she has a $4K to $5K morgage and property tax payment every month and I wouldn't be surprised if she had one or two $600 a month payments for a large SUV or two.

[PeoplesRepublicOfWashington]

Unfortunately, I don't think there were any bodies recovered from Flight 93 for a funeral.

Ummm...memorial service expenses? I know--fees for those damned attorneys. Hell, $30K was probably the downpayment on the retainer.

[paul51]

What makes you think he didn't earn considerably more than 10K per month?

[Question_Assumptions]

How can someone with that kind of income live paycheck to paycheck?

You don't live in the New York City metropolitan area, do you? I've seen nice $40,000 homes in Iowa. In the NYC metro area, $40,000 might buy you a cardboard box. If you can look up average incomes, also look up cost of living indexes and housing costs for this area.

[Trust but Verify]

It sounds terrible to beat up on these poor people, and I'm certainly not going to do that, but even if the widow doesn't know she has SS benefits coming for her and her children, which sounds far-fetched, surely she has a family member who can help her.

I, too cannot believe these people are going to lose it all just 3 months after their loved one died. Where's the life insurance money? Where's the savings? If they had none, I find that highly irresponsible of them.

[JD86]

You just listed approximately $5,000/month in expenses...for 3 months $15,000.....all I am saying is she should still have some money...."tapped out" to me means "tapped out" and losing her house because she can't pay the mortgage means she and her husband were living ABOVE his means...if they have 2 cars...she can't drive them both...if he didn't have life insurance...and he had a mortgage and 2 small children, that is extremely poor planning on his part. All I am saying is that these people have to take some responsibility for their lives. What would she have done if he had been killed in a car accident? Having said all that, I still think she is entitled to a share of the money donated for 9/11 victims. That's why I donated....and why I am sure everyone else donated.

[Question_Assumptions]

What makes you think he didn't earn considerably more than 10K per month?

Shhhhh. They don't realize that the fast food places in New Jersey have to start employees at $8 per hour just to find anyone to work in them.