Bracelets honor victims of 9-11 terrorist attacks

Erica D. Johnson

Monday, Sept. 30, 2002 | 11:07 a.m.

More than a year after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Sue Jaszkowski, of Las Vegas, remembers Nicholas Rossomando, a New York firefighter who perished in the World Trade Center, even though the two never met.

Every day she sees the name of the 35-year-old firefighter who worked at Staten Island's Rescue Co. 5 on her wrist.

"His nickname was Nikki Love," Jaszkowski said. "From what I read he was just an absolutely wonderful person. He was very charitable and helpful and loved by everyone who knew him."

Rossomando's name is inscribed on the inside of a sterling silver bracelet Jaszkowski wears. The bands are supposed to remind the wearer to pray for the families of Sept. 11 victims. Las Vegans who wear the bands said the bracelets have helped them connect to a tragedy that seemed worlds away.

"It was hard watching it on television and seeing the disaster and being this far away," Jaszkowski said. "It was so hard to relate to, because it was business as usual here."

Jaszkowski bought the bracelet from Mercy Band, a nonprofit New Mexico company founded by an Albuquerque church, Calvary of Albuquerque, less than two weeks after the attacks. In the past year the company has sold more than 60,000 bracelets. Total revenues topped $1 million, a company spokesman said.

The company has shipped 16 of the bracelets to Las Vegas since February. Figures for the months before then were not available.

While some critics have accused the church of profiting from a national tragedy, company officials said the parish hasn't made a dime from the bracelets, which cost $20. Special-order bracelets, inscribed with a specific name of a friend or family member, cost $25.

Bob Church, a Mercy Band administrator, said all proceeds went toward business costs and the production of more bands.

The parish has a congregation of 14,000. All company employees were congregants who volunteered their time, Church said.

The company will stop taking orders today. The 10,000 bracelets still in stock will be donated to the New York Port Authority, Cantor Fitzgerald, several Catholic Relief charities and the families of the victims.

"We didn't do it for the money," Church said. "In fact, it's cost us money just to run the business."

Each Mercy Band is inscribed with the name of a deceased person and where the person perished -- the World Trade Center, Pentagon, or aboard one of the American or United Airlines flights. Purchasers can request the name of a firefighter, police officer or civilian.

Jaszkowski said she was inclined to select a firefighter after local firefighters came to her rescue during an asthma attack. Her husband, Lee, wears a Mercy Band inscribed with the name Michael Ragusa, a Brooklyn firefighter.

The Jaszkowskis got information on Rossomando and Ragusa by searching several websites such as legacy.com and firehouse.com, which list photographs and short biographies of Sept. 11 victims.

"These people had families," Sue Jaszkowski said. "Nicholas has a girlfriend. Michael was engaged. It's so incredible to think of never seeing your loved one again."

Church said the sadness of running the business often took its toll on volunteers.

"There were times when we were sorting inventory and suddenly you realize that each band represents a human life that was lost," he said. "It can be very overwhelming at times."

The idea for the bands came from Calvary of Albuquerque's pastor, Skip Heitzig and his wife, Lenya, in the days following the attacks. Lenya Heitzig wanted a unique way to remember Sept. 11 victims. She wanted to create a bracelet similar to the one she wore as a child to remember prisoners of war during the Vietnam War.

Mike Dean, a friend of the Jaszkowskis, also wears a Mercy Band. "I wore a POW bracelet during Desert Storm," he said. "I just thought it was a nice way to keep those people in our thoughts."

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