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A s a wave of compassion swept over America after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Gannett newspapers and television stations helped steer their communities’ emotional anguish into concrete action. Fund-raising and supply drives took a variety of forms in mar- 

kets from small to large. With the help of readers and viewers, the newspapers and television stations were involved in contribut- ing more than $20 million in cash, goods and services to charities that aid rescuers and victims of the attacks on New York and the Pentagon and of the downed jetliner near Pittsburgh. 

Gannett, with the Gannett Foundation, donated $4.6 million in media exposure to the American Red Cross in one month via free advertising in newspapers, online and on TV. The Gannett Foundation also matched employees’ donations of about $75,000 to various charities. 

Gannett Broadcasting values its effort at about $11.16 million, which includes $9.45 million in cash from fund-raising efforts, $918,000 worth of airtime donated for public-service announce- ments and $788,000 worth of clothing, food and medical supplies. 

Several TV stations, including WLTX-TV at Columbia, S.C., and WBIR-TV at Knoxville, Tenn., backed community efforts to raise funds for new fire trucks to replace those destroyed when the World Trade Center fell. When Cleveland officials organized a supply drive, WKYC-TV did its part, promoting the effort heavily. Volunteers filled 40 semitrailers with about 400,000 pounds of donations. 

WFMY-TV at Greensboro, N.C., provided charity of another sort: It gave up a new transmitter to WCBS-TV at New York, which lost its equipment atop the World Trade Center. WFMY agreed to take delivery of another transmitter a month later to help its fellow CBS affiliate. 

Connecting 

The Newspaper Division’s local newspapers generated $4.4 million in cash for charities and tons of supplies from readers in just one month. In addition, they were generous contributors of in-paper advertising and supported local relief efforts. The News Journal at Wilmington, Del., for instance, collected eight tons of supplies for rescue workers in New York and Northern Virginia. 

The Arizona Republic, KPNX-TV at Phoenix and azcentral.com generated $2.2 million in six weeks to support disaster-relief efforts. Donations were solicited by running a coupon in the news- paper and by a two-day telephone bank on KPNX. The Republic also sponsored “Community Conversations” to answer readers’ questions and concerns, as did The Idaho Statesman at Boise. 

More than $100,000 was raised from selling signed cartoons of the Statue of Liberty crying created by Green Bay (Wis.) Press- Gazette editorial cartoonist Joe Heller. The Indianapolis Star offered 750 signed and numbered color posters of a Sept. 16 editorial cartoon by Gary Varvel for a $50 donation. The cartoon depicted Uncle Sam carrying an injured New York City firefighter out of the World Trade Center rubble. Black-and-white copies also were offered for $10 each. More than $120,000 was raised, which went to the Red Cross. Meanwhile, The Journal News at Westchester County, N.Y., raised $195,000 from selling copies of its Sept. 12 front page featuring firefighters raising the flag in the rubble of the World Trade Center (below). 

Greater Rochester, N.Y., residents generated $234,435 for the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle’s Sept. 11 Lend-A-Hand effort, with every dollar designated to assist surviving families. 

USA WEEKEND’s annual Make A Difference Day for the first time included a fund-raising component: More than $600,000 was collected in donations for the Make A Difference Day Scholarship Fund, which will pay for college educations for children of the Sept. 11 victims. 

