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

NewsMax ^ | 12/13/01

[Austim]

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.

Yes, but should the United Way and Red Cross be expected to keep the survivors living in the same lifestyle they had prior to the attack? If so these organizations will need to raise hundreds of billions to keep the families of stock brokers and bond traders living at the lifestyle they are accustomed.

It is interesting that we do not here the voices of the families of the bus boys, maids, janitors and service workers that were killed in the attack. Have they received $30,000.00 or are they just keeping quiet and thanking God for the time they did have with their loved one?

[JD86]

If he did earn considerably more than $10,000/month...and his wife doesn't have any money because they were living paycheck to paycheck....my sympathy level just went down considerably.

[paul51]

Surely that covered her husband's take home pay???

How can you have any clue at all what their personal finances are?

[Lion Den Dan]

Let the Faith Based charities step in. Let them replace the leftist Unite Way. Let us start a FR fund for this woman. I will offer $50.00 to start it off but some one here on FR will have to run the fund. I have not the skill or the time to do this. Dan

[JD86]

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

LOL - of course, blame it on the attorneys....instead of the fact that this family was probably living at 150% of their take home pay.....and she doesn't want to lower her standard of living. She wants to stay home with her two children even though her husband is dead. Well, in the real world, if you don't save money....and spend more than you make....and the breadwinner dies...and you don't have life insurance, then you sell the second car, you move to a less expensive house and you get a job.

[Question_Assumptions]

The $5,000 per month I listed was minimum. If he were making in the $150,000 range or more and he had a $500,000 home, then her costs could be much higher. I've heard of $12,000 per year property tax bills in Bergen County.

It is entirely possible that they were spending up to his income. You can call it poor planning or have no sympathy for them because they were living too richly for your tastes but the fact remains that it is not unreasonable to assume that his salary was or exceeded $150K and that he and his wife were living on a fairly tight budget that they would be able to afford if he were alive but which she cannot legitimately afford now that he is dead. And if they recently bought the house (likely given his age) and the value has gone down a bit and/or the real estate agent fees would exceed the equity in the house (possible for a $400K or $500K home), then selling may not be an option for her, either. And she may now have to pay for insurance benefits that her husband's job once provided.

Call it poor planning. Turn away because they were rich. The point remains that it is entirely possible that simply paying the bills that she had before he died that she could run through $30K in 3 months.

Yes, I suppose I'm curious about life insurance, too, but I'm willing to cut this lady some slack.

[Austim]

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.

No, I live in Austin in a neighborhood where older three bedroom houses sell for between 350-500k. If something were to happen to me or my wife the surviving spouse would have to sell the house and move out to the suburbs where a house may cost 150k. However, we also have savings that would carry us through nine months to a year with no income. We have created this cushion because we are responsible adults and realize that bad things can happen.

[JD86]

God Bless your sister's family. I hope she has been able to get some of the donation funds for her family.

[paul51]

LOL - of course, blame it on the attorneys....instead of the fact that this family was probably living at 150% of their take home pay.....and she doesn't want to lower her standard of living. She wants to stay home with her two children even though her husband is dead. Well, in the real world, if you don't save money....and spend more than you make....and the breadwinner dies...and you don't have life insurance, then you sell the second car, you move to a less expensive house and you get a job

You keep making more and more assuptions about these people. Do you know them?

[Howlin]

You may not be comfortable with the families of the victims receiving much money from these charities, but I believe 99.9% of the donors would disagree with you.

I believe you misunderstood what JD said; I, too, wonder what the story on this whiz kids who worked for these stockbrokers is. Why didn't they have personal insurance that would cover their deaths, especially on business travel. Why didn't they have mortgage insurance. If they are making $10,000 a month, or anything close to that, they should have provided for THEIR families instead of blowing all that money.

Any way you dice it, $30,000 is a LOT of money to spend in 3 months.

[Howlin]

I'm sure there is more to the story, and it needs to be told.

IMO, these people didn't take care of their families; I know there were plenty of people who didn't earn enough to provide for their families, but the ONLY ones you see on TV are the stockbrokers. They should have KNOWN better and I don't feel the least bit bad for them.

[JD86]

I don't know what their personal finances are. I know the wife says she received $30,000 and in three months that is all gone and she is "tapped out" and in danger of losing her home.

Well, in the real world, if you don't save money....and spend more than you make....and the breadwinner dies...and you don't have life insurance, then you sell the second car, you move to a less expensive house and you get a job.

[monkeyshine]

WHAT?!? I AM OUTRAGED. WE DID NOT GIVE MONEY SO THEY CAN WITHHOLD IT! THESE SCAM ARTIST CHARITIES WILL NEVER GET ANOTHER DIME FROM ME UNTIL EVERY PENNY THEY TOOK FOR THIS ATTACK IN IS GIVEN TO THE VICTIMS -- ALL THE VICTIMS!

How hard can this be? Find all the victims families, divide the money up and send out the checks!

[Austim]

I find that highly irresponsible of them.

If these families had no life insurance or savings then they are very irresponsible. But, Guess What? You and I along with all the American taxpayers will end up supporting victim’s families who failed to life responsible before the 9/11 attacks. What a Country!

[Howlin]

None of this would have been extravagent in New Jersey if he had the salary to support it.

Then her HUSBAND should have carried life insurance to cover all that.

[PeoplesRepublicOfWashington]

Thanks for the information, and my sympathies for your family's loss.

[JD86]

No, I obviously do not know them. Do you? All I know is that this woman is asking other people to help her take care of her and her children because she cannot.
She has received $30,000.....and is already "tapped out". Why do you think questions are unreasonable?

[Howlin]

I'm sorry for your loss; you and your sister are in my thoughts.

[paul51]

Easy to condemn, judge and advise when you don't know anything about what has gone on with them.

[JD86]

Thank you.