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Rocker gives some sparkle to kids of 9/11 victims
By Lee Davidson
Deseret News Washington correspondent
Hillary Strauch and her dad loved to watch past Olympics on TV together. But he was killed Sept. 11 in the World Trade Center attack. "So I thought the Olympics were going to be especially hard on her this year," her mother, Virginia, says.
That changed last week when Scott Stapp, lead singer of the rock band Creed, decided to bring some some children who had lost parents or siblings on Sept. 11 to the Olympics with him.
"They called out of the blue. I couldn't believe it — I was going to the Olympics," said Hillary, with a broad smile that showed her braces and wrinkled the face-painted American flag on her cheek. Her mother said, "It's been wonderful. She is so happy."
It's not as good as having her dad, but Hillary and five other New York-area children attended a hockey game, had dinner with the chief of NBC and top athletes he invited and were taken by Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, to meet even more athletes, were honored by Salt Lake Mayor Rocky Anderson at a Washington Square concert; and honored at Creed's concert at the Medals Plaza.
Their whirlwind trip on Monday and Tuesday was paid for by a foundation headed by Stapp, called Arms Wide Open. It had already paid $200,000 to other charities that help children who lost parents in the Sept. 11 attacks.
"Scott called me last week and said, 'I feel in my heart that I should bring some of these kids with me to the Olympics,' " said Cindy McNeely, executive director of the foundation.
She quickly called a camp that works with such youth, and identified the six lucky teens and preteens who were whisked away to Salt Lake City with their parents.
"When I picked them up at the airport, they were all quiet. They've had a tough time. . . . One of the moms told me they spent their Valentine's Day having their cheeks swabbed (for a DNA sample) because they're trying to identify some tissue found in the rubble (as possibly belonging to a dead parent)," McNeely said.
"But look at them now. They are joking with each other, they're having fun. It's let them forget things for a while," she said as the youth were swapping Olympic pins with visitors at Washington Square.
"We've met all kinds of athletes," said Celeste Pollicino of Long Island, N.Y. The children showed off autograph books with current and former stars ranging from Katarina Witt to Brian Boitano and Michael Weiss. They had some stars from virtually every winter sport. But Pollicino said meeting Stapp, their benefactor, "was probably the best."
"My favorite was the hockey game," the only actual event they saw, said Eamon Stewart of New Jersey. He confided, "I hadn't really been paying much attention to the Olympics. . . . That changed."
Hatch said, "These young people have been with me for two or three hours. We went up and went through the Olympic Village. They are some of the best kids I've ever met."
The Rev. Wintley Phipps, who records some songs that Hatch writes, sang two of them to the group while they stood on stage during his concert at Washington Square: "Heal Our Land" and "Ship of Dreams."
Phipps said they were songs designed to help them and others "face whatever the future brings."
At that concert, Anderson also gave the six Salt Lake City 2002 hats. "We want you to remember the people of Salt Lake City who have cared so much and have shown in so many ways their warm feelings toward you," the mayor said.
Stapp himself finally honored them during Creed's concert at the Medals Plaza.
E-MAIL: lee@desnews.com
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February 20, 2002
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