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The Story behind the Photos:
(45 photos)
 Ten FDNY firefighters including Jimmy Sands, E-10 and Mark Medina, L-10,
flew to San Diego to spend the weekend in San Diego County
helping to clean up the Dulzura home of Earl Carter, a carpenter who
volunteered to help rebuild 20 homes after the 2003 Cedar Fire, and
Dan Lachenbruch, the La Mesa firefighter whose Rancho Bernardo home
burned to the ground while he was working to save other people’s
homes from the recent Harris Fire.
From
Jeff of The New York Says Thank You Foundation:
"I
wanted to thank you for your tremendous and immediate outpouring of
support that enabled us to travel to San Diego this past weekend to
help two special families start the long process of rebuilding
following last week’s devastating wildfires. Over 150 local
volunteers turned out to work alongside our New York Says Thank You/FDNY
firefighters and the turnout truly overwhelmed the homeowners Earl &
Celeste Carter and Dan Lachenbruch and his family with so much love
and support. In the ashes of their home, we found Celeste Carter’s
diamond ring. But perhaps the most touching moment of all came when
Bill and Lorena Strong and their two sons, Daniel and David, planted
a tree from THEIR yard in the backyard of Dan Lachenbruch in Rancho
Bernardo. The Strong family of Harbison Canyon was the very first
home The New York Says Thank you Foundation built on September 11,
2004. Since then, the Strong family has been volunteering with us
cross-country and here they were welcoming the Lachenbruch’s into
our extended New York Says Thank You “family” by literally
REPLANTING HOPE in the Lachenbruch family’s backyard. Survivors
helping survivors.
It’s
been a four year journey to bring the Strong and Lachenbruch
families together and that journey – which YOU make possible -- is
still continuing and getting bigger.
God bless,
Jeff Parness
The New York Says Thank You Foundation"
The mission of The New York Says Thank You Foundation is to
commemorate the kindness extended to New Yorkers by Americans from
all across the country in the days, weeks, and months following
9/11, by sending volunteers from New York City each year on the 9/11
Anniversary to help rebuild communities around the United States
affected by natural or man-made disasters. The New York Says Thank
You Foundation is registered as a charitable tax-exempt organization
under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and is
incorporated under section 402 of the New York State Not-For-Profit
Corporation Law. For more information, please see
www.NewYorkSaysThankYou.org
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