Welcome to iHeartRadio Communities, a public affairs special focusing on the biggest issues impacting you this week. Here's Ryan Gorman. Thanks for joining us here on iHeartRadio Communities. I'm Ryan Gorman, and we have an important conversation lined up for you for this show as we approach the twenty second anniversary of the September eleventh attacks. We have a few special guests we're going to talk to over the
course of the next half hour. In a bit, we'll check him with John Field, founder of the Field Good Foundation, an organization working to help all emergency personnel who have been injured in the course of their duties or within their everyday lives. More specifically those heroes down at Ground zero and the surrounding area on nine to eleven and in the period afterwards when toxic chemicals were still
present. His battles in Washington, DC. Getting legislation passed for so many first responders and other emergency personnel is a true inspiration, So stick around to check that out. Right now, to get things started, I'm joined by David Payne, President and co founder of nine eleven Day. You can learn more about this tremendous organization at nine eleven day dot org. That's nine one
one day dot org. David, thank you so much for taking a few minutes to come on the show ahead of this upcoming nine eleven anniversary, and before we dive into what nine eleven Day is all about, take us back to that tragic day twenty two years ago and tell us about your personal experience. Yeah. I was born and raised in New York, and so I
you know, I knew the city intimately. And although I had had moved to California prior to nine to eleven, you know, I think New York was always my hometown and so when the attacks occurred, it was just devastating to me personally. You know, I had worked down there, I had written the elevators on the World Trade Center towers. You know, I just knew the community so well, and so it was very personal to me.
And then on top of that, a very very good friend of mine, Jay Winnick, who ended up becoming my co founder, lost his brother,
Glenn, in the collapse of the World Trade Center South Tower. And Glenn was an attorney who worked at a law firm Holland at night, but he was also a trained volunteer firefighter in EMT and so, like a lot of brave first responders, after evacuating his own building, he went into the South Tower to rescue people and he was in the process of getting people out of the South Tower lobby when the building came down upon and I had my own
brother, fortunately did get out of the area, but he was right across the street, and he watched the second plane hit and he, in the process of leaving the area, witnessed people jumping from the tower. So it was very, very close and intimate for me in a lot of ways. And about six months after the attacks, Jay and I sat down together and we said, how don't we make something good come from this horrific experience?
And I think we were both inspired by the way the nation changed in the immediate aftermath of the attacks, when we weren't Red states or Blue states, we were just human beings helping one another. And the beauty of that that the awakening of our human spirit and the innate goodness that came out of so many people, you know, not just in the United States, but all around the world. It was a phenomenon that I had never ever experienced before
in my life. And I think I will. Personally, I just wanted to keep that spirit of the unity alive at least one day out of the year. And I think for me and for Jay, we thought that we couldn't think of a better way to pay tribute to all the people that lost their lives and the many heroic people that you know that that rose in service in response to the attacks than to sort of try to transform or or turn nine to eleven, the anniversary of nine eleven into that same kind of experience
that Dave doing good at Dave unity and kindness. And so that's what we've done. And before we get into more about the creation of this organization and the specific work that you do, there are many Americans now, including some I'm sure listening to the show we're too young to remember that day who weren't born back then. So can you step us through. I'm sure you remember it like it was yesterday. I know I do. I can rehash my
entire experience that day. But what were you going through? What were you doing as all of that unfolded twenty two years ago? Yeah, like a lot of Americans, you know, I found out about the attacks because somebody called me, right, colleague, it might work here, yep. Quick, quick turn on the television then, and of course I did, and then I never left that television set, screen or other screens for days on
end, like a lot of Americans. And it was particularly heartbreaking for me because as I was now living three thousand miles away from the New York area of my hometown, and I wasn't sure where my members of my family were, I wasn't sure if people were safe, and so it was very, very painful for me to observe it from afar. And it's interesting because I know a lot of people who lived in the New York area in DC that you weren't sure whether the rest of the country, you know, felt the
same way as they did. And while the experience, of course for people who were in New York, DC and elsewhere close to the attacks is a
unique, you know, one that could never be replicated. I would say that having you know, witnessed the attacks from California and watching the reactions of all my neighbors and friends here, there was no difference in that respect, which we were all stunned and shocked and horrified, and it really was a transformational experience for me personally, that that, you know, literally that was very first few minutes and then in the weeks thereafter, and I just it
changed my life. I just didn't want to do what I was doing anymore. And I was working for a you know, a public relations firm, and I said, you know, I don't want to. I don't want to be promoting tacos and diapers anymore. Right, I want to change my life. Yeah, I want to. I want to do something meaningful. And when I saw the horror of that day, I just said, hey, you know, we're going to try to turn this stuff around. I mean, this kind of hate that is bred by intolerance or of the perception
of difference which doesn't exist. It's an illusion. You know, we're all born the same, you know, when we all leave this plan at the same and everything in between is just a thought, you know, our differences and everything. And I just I wanted to make that my life mission. And that's what I've done along with my good friend Jay. I'm Ryan Gorman, joined by David Payne. Nine eleven Day President and co founder. You can learn more at nine to eleven day dot org. That's nine one one
day dot org. I'm sure a lot of people across the country had that same thought that you and Jay had, that you wanted to take this awful tragedy and turn it into something positive. But you and Jay managed to do it with the creation of nine to eleven Day. So you mentioned earlier how it initially came about, but step us through the process of really creating this organization and turning it into the movement that it's become, well, I think
I certainly recall it. The very first step that we both took was to sit down with other nine eleven family members, people who had lost their loved ones, because you know, it was an idea that we had, but we didn't know whether or not it was going to be something that they felt
was appropriate right for you to honor their own loved ones. And so we started having these private meetings one on one with many of them still you know, deeply sort of immersed in their grief, and despite the fact that so many of them were suffering, you know that from this unimaginable loss, they all did see the vision and the wisdom of it, and they said, we can't help you right now because we're going through so many difficult things.
But if you know, we if you feel like this is something you want to do, we're one hundred and ten percent behind you. And ultimately a group of about forty of them all sort of formed an advisory committee and that sort of led us on our on our way, and it was in two thousand three that we more officially tried to go to Washington and established nine to
eleven is a day of service under federal law. We thought that would be an important thing because up until that point, Martin Martin Luther King, Jr's birthday was the only official federally resid federally designated day of service, and so we wanted nine to eleven to be that too, and it took us about seven years to ultimately achieve it. It was not really until two thousand nine that we were able to get legislation passed that did establish nine to eleven is
a day of service under federal law. But we had a lot of growth and support all along the way, so, you know, it was a very methodical and I would say somewhat slow process. But since two thousand and nine, this observance has taken off. And uh, you know, when we started with just a handful of people who were even aware of it today a good you know, forty percent of the country is aware that nine eleven
is a day of service. We still have a long way to go, but there are millions of people that get out now and observe it through through volunteering, donating to charities, giving things away, or just trying to be a little more kind and considerate and helpful to one another through good deed. Doing your attempts to get this to become a federally recognized holiday. What were some of the issue is that you dealt with as you were trying to get
that accomplished. Well, I certainly learned a lot about Washington, DC during this period of time, because neither Jay or I hadn't really spent any time in Washington at all. And we were fortunate to get a lobbyist in DC, a friend of ours, who just taught us a little bit about it, you know, and helped walk the halls of Congress with us, and
we went door to door and we just started meeting members of Congress. And you know, I think we've both felt Jay and I did that, you know, with the support of the entire nine eleventh community basically behind this, that the idea of making nine eleventh day of service would be a no brainer, right. I think most people listening right now were like, why was this such a process? Well, I think what we learned first and foremost was there is no such thing as a no brainer to Washington, DC.
It takes a lot of time to explain it. And you know, keep in mind too that at that time, especially in the first four years, we were still very concerned about whether we would be the subject of subsequent terrorist attacks, so there was a lot of focus more on the protection of the
country. Obviously, we had now initiated a war in Afghanistan and subsequently in Iraq, and so the timing to sort of turn nine to eleven into a day of doing good to some degree as a day of peace, it just didn't align with where the nation was in the first i'd say five four or five six years. But as the years went on, interestingly enough, the desire to try to hold on to that spirit of togetherness became more and more popular, and we found that members of Congress started to like the idea that
there should be some permanent legacy. And it was really then, you know, just before the change in the administration towards the end of the Bush administration, where President Bush became very much a big supporter of that. We had both Republicans and Democrats that were joining together, and it sort of led the way for the passage of a legislation called the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act in two thousand and nine that made September eleventh a day of service under
federal law and supported other national service programs as well. I'm Ryan Gorman, joined by David Payne nine eleven Day President and co founder. You can learn more at nine to eleven Day dot org. That's nine one one day dot org. So when you say it's a day of service, what exactly does this day now encompass? Well, nine to eleven Day is I think quite unique because it's not just a day of volunteering. It's honestly just a day of doing good and that can be in any form of person wants to express
it. So, you know, kids can make their beds and do the dishes, or help a sibling with their homework. People can give something away. They can they can make a donation to a charity like our charity, or they can volunteer it's or they can just you know, hold the door open for someone, be a little more attentive to the importance of kindness in our lives. Maybe take a break from yelling at one another on social media. You know, there's there are just a thousand ways in which people can
participate. And to try to make I think that easier for people, we we establish on our website an entire library of good deeds that people can kind of browse and consider. So people should definitely go to our website nine to
eleven day dot org, click on the resources section. They'll you'll find toolkits there and there are so many things guides for parents because this is something that is particularly important to think about, and you mentioned it, which is that ninety nine million Americans today are under the age of twenty five with no memories of the attacks. So how do we pass this important legacy of kindness and
service onto the next generation. Now that's the job of teachers and parents, and so we are encouraging them to not be afraid to talk to their children about nine to eleven, but do it in a positive way. Talk about the goodness that came from so many people, the way in which we all joined together in unity and on our website, we have all these great lesson plans, toolkits and resources, all free for people to use and consider.
It sounds like the essence of nine to eleven Day, and correct me if I'm wrong, but it is to on this day bring back that sense of community and helping each other and caring about each other that we all really experience, like you alluded to earlier in the aftermath of the September eleventh attacks,
I think that's exactly right. One of the things I thought that was so profound right after nine eleven was the way even members of Congress, Republicans and Democrats alike, made a deliberate effort to promote the importance of unity, and during the State of the Union addressed, they would sit next to one another rather than on each side of the aisle the way they do now. And
it was a fleeting moment, There's no doubt about it. You know, we lost our sort of attachment to the togetherness that really does exist innately in
all of us. And nine to eleven Day is very much about celebrating and honoring that togetherness, that spirit of compassion and unity and kindness that lives in every single one of us every single day, and it's a reminder that we shouldn't need a tragedy of nine to eleven proportions to bring us together as Americans, that we have that innate unity that already lives within us every moment of every day, and we have to all be careful that we don't allow ourselves
to become divided or to be divided by forces that benefit by our division. Because in the end, and this is something I learned from nine to eleven, we are not divided as people. We just think we are. It's an illusion. I'm Ryan Gorman, joined by David Payne, President and co founder of nine eleven Day. You can learn more at nine eleven day dot org. That's nine one one day dot org. Social media can be so toxic, but you have an initiative that really brings to like the best that
social media can offer. Tell us about your hashtag I will for nine eleven day campaign. Yeah, so, quite a number of years ago, we started noticing that in classrooms around the country, teachers were getting their students involved in planning their own kind of good deeds that they were going to do with
their with their classmates or with their parents. And then the teachers would hand out these little pledge cards and the kids would write down what they were going to do for nine eleven and under sort of this sort of theme of I will for nine to eleven dot dot dot, and we thought, wow,
what a cool idea. So we started launching this social media campaign where we're inviting every American who is going to do any kind of active kindness to take ten seconds to get onto the social media page on nine to eleven and share what they plan to do. They don't have to do it on nine to
eleven. They can just say this is what I'm planning to do this week or whenever they're thinking of doing it, and then they share it with the hashtag I will for nine to eleven debts And that's how we see millions and millions of good deeds that people do every year, all over the country, all over the world. It's just a remarkable phenomenon, and so social media is becoming a tool for us to witness the goodness that lives in so many
Americans every day. Final question for you, for those listening who want to support the tremendous work you're doing with nine to eleven Day, what are some of the different ways they can go about doing that. There are a lot
of ways in which people can participate. Certainly, they can volunteer on that day and if they go to our website at nine to eleven day Forward slash Volunteer, you know, we are listening quite a number of the big large volunteer projects that we're staging around the nation this year, and there may be opportunities for individuals to sign up to participate in those events where we will be packing six point five million meals for people who are at risk of hunger and
will be in eighteen different cities, So there could be opportunities to volunteer directly with us. But even if a person can't volunteer with us, there are just so many other simple good deeds that they can do in their lives. But it does take just a moment to stop and say, okay, you know what could I do? I mean, I have a fourteen year old son and every year, you know, he usually goes through his clothes that
he's outclone and we donate them to Goodwill. So and he's an example of a person who was born after September eleventh, and yet here he is, you know, keeping the promise to never forget by doing simple good deeds. So I would just say to everybody, I'm sure that you can come up with something good you want to do on that debt and then go ahead and do it and share it on social media using the hashtag I will for nine
eleven Day. And I'll just add another way that everyone can support this work is by donating and you can do that at nine to eleven day dot org. David Payne, President and co founder of nine eleven Day, David, I want to thank you so much for taking a few minutes to come on the show, and of course for all the really important work you're doing with nine eleven Day. We really appreciate it. Thank you so much. Of course, I'm Ryan Gorvin here on iHeartRadio Communities and now want to bring in
our next guest for this nine to eleven anniversary special. I'm joined by John feel founder of the Field Good Foundation, which you can learn more about it feel Good Foundation com. John, it's great to talk to you again before we spend some time in your mission to help those who help so many on nine to eleven and in the days, weeks and months after the attack, tell us about your personal experience on that day twenty two years ago. Well
one, thank you for having me. And as we approached the twenty second anniversary, I pray anybody who's suffering from that horrific Tuesday finding comfort knowing that Americans thinking about it. And you know, my story tells in comparison to those who died that day or those who that's sick and died afterre I'm blessed. And while I had a horrific and gruesome injury and spent eleven weeks in the hospital and almost died, I'm blessed. I'm able to beat a voice
of thousands, and it's a responsibility that I take serious. And we look forward reluctantly. We look forward to advocating into the future. As we evolved in the nine eleven community re all for the worst, more and more people
are getting sick, and more and more people are dying. And this September sixteen, at my park on Long Island, we're adding three hundred and fifty nine main heroes who died from a nine eleven related illness in the calendar of the year and correct me if I'm wrong, but worth the point now where more have died in the aftermath of nine to eleven from the effects of that day than actually died in the September eleven attacks. Right, that is correct,
Staily, that is correct, And it's going to get worse. It's not going to get better. But with the legislation that we help get passed, it gives people a fighting chance to get into the World Trips and the Help program and get treated by doctness. Now with twenty years experience in environmental diseases, and I employ anybody who's down in Lower Manhattan or at the Pentagon Learning shang Phill even if you're not sick, to get in the program,
because you will most likely get sick. And you know, Ryan, this is a staggerant statistic. If you had lung cancer from the general population, and I had lung cancers from the nine eleven population, my lung chnacter is worse than yours. It's on steroids, it's aggressive, But I have a higher chance and a higher success way to survive. And because the doctors know what they're looking for and at early detection, because we go to yearly physicals.
Now, how did your organization come about with this mission to leave no responder behind? Wow? I was angry and I'm still angry, but my channel my hanging, so it's positive energy. Right. So you know, before everybody got sick and denied benefits, I got hurt. Half of my foot was in the left jaw. Half of my left foot was in the jaw. I have a documented injury where my foot was crushed by eight thousand
pounds deal and I was denied benefits. And my mother raised me. My mother was my mother, my father, my best friend, and she raised me to fight back. And you know, I didn't have a luxury drawing field and field of coundation helping me. I had to learn the hard way and I wanted to share that with everybody else. One thing led to another, and we've now helped past nineteen pieces of legislatorships, help a palk on
Long Island, donated millions of dollars and donated a kidneys. You know, this is all I know, just a longer to be the rest of my life, and the burden is heavy physically and mentally. It's taking a toll because of my foot. I just am recovering from double hip surgery. For those who don't know the background on the fight that you've been involved in. Can you give us a general sense of what it is that you've been fighting for these pieces of legislation that you've gotten past. Yeah, I mean,
whether it's at the local, state of federal level. Most likely, most which made us more famous than we should have been was the fighting in Congress in the federal level where we helped get to James and Jove a health and composition. I've said three times we fought for healthcare, and we fought the conversation for those who get sick and what's their income and then what's their benefits. It's been a nineteen year battle for me and we look forward to continuing
to advocate, to tinue to get legislation. Pest and more hurdles and more rosciples is going to be thrown in our way, and we're ready for this. You know, we're no longer that little engine that could, but that's think the engine that did. And you know, our responsibility now is you know, right they say people men or women die twice when the heart stops and when we stopped talking about them, and we're going to continue to talk about these men and women who get sick and die, and we're going to
make sure that their stories are told. So we never forget that, We truly never forget that horrific Tuesday morning, I'm Ryan Gorman, joined now by John Field, founder of the field Good Foundation, which you can learn more about at feel Good Foundation dot com. That's fa l Good Foundation dot com.
So, John, when you talk about these different health issues that so many who were there in the aftermath of these September Left attacks have dealt with over the years, what are some of those issues that you've been fighting to get covered? Mostly cancer? You know, we get the bill pass the first time in two thousand and ten and there was no cancer added to it, and now we have sixty nine cancers added to the bill we started with four. One year later in twenty eleven, we got four cancers added and
three months ago we got unit during cancer for the sixty nine cancer. But we started to Kansas copg culmonary fight Boss. You know those copsins made these men and women uniform and nine uniforms. Six we inhaled it. Yeah, we ate there, we slept there, we cried there, we went to the bathroom that we worked on the pile of back. Twenty four seven was first few days the consins made these men and women sick. And I till my looking stars every day, but I look over my shoulder early day,
going am I going to get that nine to eleven cancer? The struggle that you've been through trying to get this healthcare to those who need it, I think most people listening would say, why in the world was it a struggle? Why are we hearing words like struggle and battle and things like that. Why is it so difficult to get this help? And what are some of the things you're currently working on that you're trying to get done moving forward?
Yeah, well, the first part of that question, I can answer for stupidity, poor leadership, lack of commitment, ideologies not ideologies, ideologies, party before country. There's a million leadsons, bad leadership, poor leadership, corruption, political games, kicking the candid. And you know, I can
think of a million instance why they made its fight so hard. We were lied to on September sixteen, two guys in one when they said they able within the fact that they larned to us and made a fight pitts long. I'm still scratching my head and that's probably why I'll have a chip on my shoulder. The rest of my life. I've been to over two hundred fetals and it's it's it's I don't know why God is doing this to me,
but it's painful. That's what we're fighting for now. You know, last year, John Stewart and I helped get the burn Pit Bill pests for millions of veterans for three hundred billion dollars. And now we're fighting to get the World Trade Center help program extended. We got to catch to the NDAA and we got part of the money that we were asking for, but we're gonna have to go back and next for more money next year. And it's is
gonna be a it's gonna be an ongoing fight. Christino Congress as a turnover and right now there's no legislative process in DC other than to stay in power and and longevity. So we have our hands full. But you know, between going to DC or upsetting New York, New Jersey or Michigan where nineteen to nineteen getting legislation pass and I'm going to retire like Rocky Marciana, Well,
it really is incredible work. Now, how can everyone listening help support that work and make sure what needs to get done for these heroes who served this country on and after nine to eleven that whatever they need gets done and gets taken care of. Well. I think everybody can tune in on CNN films and watching all responses left behind with John Stewart and I and wait to five the others went to DC and then I let them to sud what they want to do. After that, they want to send an email and say
thank you, I support you. That's good enough for me because so many people, so many people of course, this whole country and every congressional district that went to ground zero, many of them are fighting for their life right now and it's getting worse. Well, and I will tell everybody you can got to Feel Good Foundation dot com. That's fea L Good Foundation dot com. You can learn more there and you can donate to help this tremendous cause
as well. John feel founder of the Field Good Foundation. John, thank you so much for the great work you're doing. Keep fighting the good fight, and if there's anything we can do to help, just let us know. Thank you, my friend, God bless you, and thank you everybody for listening. All right, And that'll do it for this nine to eleven anniversary specialist, we wrap things up. I want to offer a big thanks to both of our guests, and of course to all of you for listening.
If you want to hear previous episodes of this show, we're on your iHeartRadio app. Just search for iHeartRadio Communities. I'm your host, Ryan Gorman. We'll talk to you again real soon. And with this twenty second anniversary of nine to eleven, upon us never forget