The Widows' and Childrens' Fund

Three hundred and forty-three firefighters were murdered at the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. Their fire union, the Uniformed Firefighters Association, collected about $80 million in donations after the event. Donors thought that the money would go directly to the widows, children and families of those who died that day. They should have read the fine print. The fire union had other ideas.
Their plan was to invest the money and dole out small amounts to widows and children only over time. The families of single firefighters were not included.
In one of their plans, the amount of money a widow would receive was so small that at thirty-six years old, she would have to live to be ninety-six before she received her full amount on a dollar for dollar basis, an amount that donors expected she would receive immediately.
That scheme was so outrageous that the Charities Bureau at the New York State Attorney General’s office intervened and made the union give the money out as expected, but not all of it. The union got to keep about $20 million, which they then invested. The investment is doing well, and each December they are able to throw a Christmas party and give the children a $500 stipend.
The union also publishes a paper in the winter. In it union officials, surrounded by grateful widows and children, are prominently portrayed. It’s great public relations; the firefighters eat it up.
Joseph J. Hehir
FDNY Retired