The 20th anniversary of the September 11th terrorist attacks are being commemorated. There will be memorial services and acts of remembrance all throughout the country and the world.
One such act of resilience started on August 21st. On that day a former flight attendant, Paul Veneto, began a journey of pushing a beverage cart from Logan International Airport in Boston to ground zero in New York City honoring the flight crews on board the hijacked aircrafts that destroyed the World Trade Center and killed so many. “Every time I look at their pictures, it’s like yesterday,” said the former flight attendant. The 220-mile push from Boston to NYC is named Paulie’s Push.
He went on to add; “I could walk to New York. I could run to New York. I could do things everybody else does, but I’m going to do something flight attendants do”. “They are heroes and should be recognized for what they did. They were the first, first responders of 9/11,” Paulie Veneto says of his late coworkers.
What makes the journey even more dramatic and with an extra layer of feeling, is that Veneto almost became a victim himself while living the horror of the event. He began suffering through an addiction to opioids fueled by the event. There is a connection of course for Veneto and Flight 175. Two months before 9/11, Veneto worked on Flight 175 and worked side by side with some of the victims. “We were all impacted, but us in Boston where these planes left, we were really impacted,” he said.
All proceeds he raises will support Paulie’s Push as well as the 9-11 crew members’ family’s registered not-for-profit organizations, and Power Forward in a continued efforts to establish Power Forward Sober Living Scholarships for those dealing with addiction. Paulie is living proof of what someone can accomplish when living a sober life.
For more information, go to www.pauliespush.com