L’Aquila raised money
for city after 9/11 attack

Hundreds came together last week to reciprocate a kindness from the victims of the L’Aquila earthquake – by raising $22,000.
“On September 11, 2001, our great city was attacked. Thousands of people were killed and billions of dollars of infrastructure was destroyed. When we were down, the people of L’Aquila raised $5,000 to help us,” explained City Councilmember Elizabeth Crowley. “Now is the time to return that kindness.”
Crowley co-hosted the fundraiser, in partnership with the Italian-American Federation of Greater New York and the Italian-American Federation of Brooklyn and Queens. State Senator Joseph Addabbo also attended the event to show his support for the 300 killed, 1,000 injured and 50,000 left homeless, after a 6.3 quake rocked the town on April 6.
L’Aquila, once known for its wealth of castles and medieval structures, now has infrastructure damage of roughly $16 million, according to officials.
“After we collected all the funds, we found that it [the fundraiser] was a great success,” said Mario Malerba, Chairman of the Board of the Italian-American Federation of Brooklyn and Queens. “It’s a tribute to the generosity of the Italian and Italian- American people here that the two federations worked so well together to accomplish this goal.”
“I am proud to represent a community that will come together to help another community in crisis thousands of miles away,” said Crowley. “We Americans and Italian-Americans are showing the world how we can stretch what little resources we have during this tough economic time to help those in need.”