Families Of Fallen First Responders Honored At Annual Charity Event
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- The families of fallen first responders received their last thank you Thursday from a charity created to help them.
As WCBS 880's Peter Haskell reported, Answer the Call is distributing $4 million. The money is going to 600 police and fire widows.
Shirley Johnson's husband, Joseph, was a firefighter who was killed in 1973. She did not need the money to live, but it helps.
"So every time it comes, it's like a piece of heaven," Johnson said.
Colin Jost of "Saturday Night Live" is involved in the effort. He likes the social network the group creates.
"There just feels like a bond that's there in a way I don't know about with other charities," he said.
Jost's mother is the FDNY's Chief Medical Officer Kerry Kelly.
The NYPD and FDNY widows were also joined by FDNY Commissioner Daniel Nigro, NYPD Commissioner James O'Neill, and Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Police Supt. Michael Fedorko Thursday, as they illuminated the tower lights of the Empire State Building in red and blue.