Rebuilding Together Greater Florida<\/a>. The Air Force veteran got to meet the team involved in her roof repair.<\/p>\nThey put the team together and got Owens Corning to donate the materials and Veterans Contracting to do the work.<\/p>\n
Everyone involved has a story to tell about 9\/11, including Colin McGrail, construction manager for Rebuilding Together, Greater Florida.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a beautiful day,\u201d said McGrail, of Sept. 11, 2001, in New York City. \u201cNot a cloud in the sky.\u201d<\/p>\n
He was a construction manager in New York at the time, working in Midtown near the Times Square district.<\/p>\n
Justin Coles is also with Rebuilding Together.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, I was 12 years old on 9-11. I grew up in Manhattan,\u201d he said. \u201cMy father worked in the financial district, so we couldn\u2019t find him for many, many hours.\u201d<\/p>\n
His father survived.<\/p>\n
They lived nearby and described the chaos of that day.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know there were no cell phones back then. It was pretty hectic,\u201d said Coles. \u201cWe went straight to a church close to our home. There were folks covered in dust and blood. It was a pretty jarring moment as a child.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou could actually hear the fighter jets,\u201d he said about the situation that day.<\/p>\n
A quarter of a century later, the work continues.<\/p>\n
Like many, Coles was moved by the experience.<\/p>\n
And not lost in this story is the significance of the word rebuilding.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was watching how everyone came together and it was really inspiring,\u201d said Coles. \u201cAnd frankly I think it\u2019s that thread has woven its way into the work I do today.\u201d<\/p>\n
And their paths crossed again, at a different moment, for a different story.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m a firm believer of fate,\u201d McGrail said. \u201cThere\u2019s a reason that I was brought here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Johnson remembers what happened on that day as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy granddad was in the Air Force, so he served,\u201d said Aneisha. \u201cAnd I wanted to take after his footsteps, so I went in right after high school shortly after 9\/11.\u201d<\/p>\n
She served her country for six years in Operation Enduring Freedom. And, on this day, they are remembering and paying tribute together.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PORT RICHEY, Fla. \u2014 The events of September 11, 2001 moved many to serve, whether it be in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":396954,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[3076,25743,28,15464,1548,115,25744,135,137,136,835],"class_list":["post-396953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-app-good-news","tag-feel-good-friday","tag-florida","tag-florida-inspires","tag-good-news","tag-news","tag-roy-de-jesus","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news","tag-vod"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396953","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=396953"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396953\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/396954"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=396953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=396953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=396953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}