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By Jon Gold
2/3/2007

This morning, I woke up at around 7 o'clock. I hopped in the shower, and was out the door by 7:30. I've been looking forward to today for the last month, so obviously I was in a hurry. Halfway up the Pennsylvania Turnpike, they decided to close the entire half of the highway. I had to get off of the Turnpike, and drive an hour out of the way to get back on to the Turnpike. When they made me get off the first time, I thought, "Why should I pay them for this 5 mile trip? This road did not serve it's purpose. I'm entitled to a refund aren't I?" Suffice it to say, I was a little perturbed.

Traffic was great. From Exit 28 on the Pennsylvania Turnpike (where I got back on), all the way up to the Verrazano Bridge, I was flying.

And then...

Let's just say that New York is filled with a lot of Parkways. Now I know why they're called that.

I called everyone I knew in New York to see if I was going the right way. I'm terrible with directions, and Route 278 points towards Manhattan at first. That's misleading because you want to go the other way. When you're just about to kiss the Empire State Building, it turns around in the right direction, and you regain your sanity.

Finding John's house was easy. All I had to do was look for a white truck with his name on it. He is as friendly as I imagined he would be. His dog Cane looks like a bear.

While we were talking, I asked John which foot was hurt. He offered to show it to me, and I said, "Nooooooo..." I do not have the stomach for that kind of thing.

Al, a retired police officer that sits on the board of the FealGood Foundation, showed up just a few minutes after I did. He came equipped with two pizzas. It broke my heart to sit next to Al. Almost every breath was a wheeze. He is suffering from the toxic dust. John told me that the first responders have a hard time being active in the cold because it's hard for them to breathe.

Vinnie Forrest from the GearUp Foundation, and his wife and daughter, arrived about an hour after I did. His wife is from Equador, and is very friendly. His daughter likes her iPod. She has the "good one" like me (the one that plays videos).

It was a very nice afternoon. So nice in fact that I've decided to do these fund-raisers once every quarter. I would dedicate all of my time to the responders, but truth and accountability for the 9/11 attacks is also very important to me. I hope others make the effort to do as we did here.

Thank you to everyone that made today possible. Thank you to 911Blogger.com for promoting this fund-raiser. Thank you to the FealGood Foundation and the GearUp Foundation for your dedication to this issue. Thank you to everyone that donated.

This was an absolute good, for absolutely good people.

We will NEVER forget.

Total amount collected for 9/11 First Responders: