Heroic Choices: A High-Profile Group Charts a Less-Glamorous Course

Of all of the charities begun in honor of the victims of September 11, the Todd M. Beamer Foundation, in

Princeton, N.J., was among the best known. Millions of Americans were familiar with Mr. Beamer, the passenger on United Airlines Flight 93 whose words “let’s roll” were accorded the status of a battle cry against terrorists and have since been immortalized in popular culture.

The charity, established by Mr. Beamer’s widow, Lisa, and his best friend, Douglas MacMillan, sought to raise money to meet the long-term needs of children who lost a parent in the attacks. While some of the organization’s methods proved controversial — including a decision by Ms. Beamer and Mr. MacMillan to trademark the phrase “let’s roll” — the money rolled in. In total, the charity has raised more than $7-million to date to aid children and pay tribute to Mr. Beamer.

As donations began pouring in, the charity’s mission was still being defined, and its founders spent the next few years in discussions with experts in the field of childhood trauma.

The end result: a new goal to help children who had suffered any kind of traumatic experience grow into successful, productive adults. A curriculum was developed for use in schools, and in 2004 the charity changed its name to match its redefined mission: Heroic Choices.

“The goal is to help children who’ve been involved in one kind of victimization or another develop resiliency,” says Alice Mae Britt, the charity’s chief executive officer since 2004. “Resiliency is a concept that’s often overlooked, but it’s absolutely essential.”

For the past two years the charity has been providing free counseling to children ages 8 to 12, primarily from the metropolitan New York area, who have experienced family trauma.

Two classes of what the charity calls “little heroes” have graduated from the organization’s yearlong program. The 2005 class included 33 students.

“The beauty of the program is that you take kids who are going through the most difficult times imaginable and you remind them: You’re still here,” says Vilma Torres, clinical director of Safe Horizon, a victim-assistance organization in New York that works closely with Heroic Choices.

Two years ago, Ms. Torres accompanied children and families who had lost a loved one to murder to a three-day resiliency retreat put on by Heroic Choices.

“These are kids and families that have lost someone to homicide and they’re learning to engage again as a family,” says Ms. Torres.

For the charity’s leaders and founders, the link between Mr. Beamer and Heroic Choices, with its emphasis on “turning tragedy into triumph,” is clear, despite the fact that the organization no longer focuses specifically on September 11. But Ms. Britt concedes that raising money is considerably more difficult today than it was in the charity’s first years.

In 2004, for example, the most recent year for which the charity makes its financial information available, Heroic Choices brought in $114,000 in contributions from individuals and corporations, down from $2.8-million in 2002.

“We were one of the charities that received the largest amount of money, but over time that immediate sense of compassion takes a back position to other crises,” says Ms. Britt.

And while she points to a number of other September 11-related charities that have collapsed, she says that she has no fear for the future of Heroic Choices.

“One unique aspect of this organization is that all of its board members are affluent,” says Ms. Britt. “The longevity of the organization is basically assured. It’s a very different situation than the norm.”