Saturday, July 13, 2002
Aid to be allotted to families of single 9-11 firefighters
A story released today by Newsday.com reports that the families and estates of unmarried firefighters who died on Sept. 11 will get a $50,000 payment from the Widows’ & Children’s Fund of the Uniformed Firefighters, a union charity.
Previously, the union charity said that the donations were meant for only the widows and children of all dead firefighters, including those who died before Sept. 11.
In addition to making payments to the families or estates of about 60 unmarried firefighters, the fund will speed up the payments, which it had previously decided to spread over the widow's life and until children reach age 24.
The fund, which gave $20,000 to each widow earlier this year, will make an additional $30,000 payment to each widow.
However, under terms of the agreement reached with the state attorney general's office, the fund will retain enough of the $60 million it collected after Sept. 11 to make unspecified lump-sum payments to any future widows.
The fund switched its payment schedule after the families of unmarried firefighters asked the attorney general's office to take legal action to include them in the payouts.
