Tuesday’s Children: After a Crisis, a Charity Turns a Corner

It was one of the worst days of his life, recalls Jonathan Barnett, chairman of the board of Tuesday’s

Children, a charity in Manhasset, N.Y., established to help family members who lost loved ones on September 11.

Confronted with overwhelming evidence that the charity’s founder, Chris Burke — whose brother was a bond trader who died in the World Trade Center — had improperly diverted more than $300,000, including some money for his personal use, Mr. Barnett says he was forced to fire Mr. Burke last January.

Mr. Burke pleaded guilty in July to state charges of grand larceny in the third degree, for which he was sentenced to five years’ probation. Mr. Barnett says that Mr. Burke’s parents gave Tuesday’s Children $500,000 in stock as restitution.

Mr. Burke’s lawyer, Laura Oppenheim, says her client has not been charged with a federal offense, but “I am operating under the assumption that there is a federal investigation under way.” She had no further comment on Mr. Burke’s legal status or his tenure at Tuesday’s Children.

After Mr. Burke was dismissed, says Mr. Barnett, he had to address the charity’s 18 staff members about its future.

“At that point we were all just wondering ‘Can the organization survive?’ And ‘Can it survive without Chris?’” says Mr. Barnett, a lawyer who has worked with Tuesday’s Children since 2002. “The organization was shaken down to its roots. Every person working there owed their jobs to Chris.”

Mr. Barnett sought to reassure the staff members that the charity would survive the ordeal: “I told them that this organization is going to make it because the families of 9/11 need us and because we meet those needs.”

Eight months later, Mr. Barnett insists that Tuesday’s Children has turned a corner.

“We’re growing because the needs of the families are evolving,” says Mr. Barnett, who estimates that the charity, which already provides programs and services to more than 5,000 people, will aid 20 percent more this year.

“Our budget has grown, the number of families has grown, our fund raising has grown,” says Mr. Barnett.

Since its creation, Tuesday’s Children has raised more than $5.2-million, and the charity continues to seek donations. One positive sign for the charity: It was among three organizations chosen by Paramount Pictures to split 5 percent of the opening-weekend box-office proceeds from director Oliver Stone’s new film, World Trade Center.

Like several charities created to support the children of victims of September 11, Tuesday’s Children originally intended to offer assistance until the youngsters went to college. But the mission quickly expanded beyond that, says Mr. Barnett.

“We started with the children who lost a parent, but there’s been a constant evolution,” he says. “What about the survivors? What about the injured? What about the rescue workers? What about the people who worked on the site?”

Since its founding in 2001, the charity has established numerous efforts to aid the families of September 11. First Steps, a program created with New York University’s Child Study Center, helps surviving parents navigate emotional challenges, while Next Steps provides such parents with mental-health counseling, financial-management advice, and help with career transitions. Career Paths helps teenagers prepare for college and careers. In addition, Tuesday’s Children provides adult mentors for youngsters whose parents were killed in the attacks.

“When the initial organization was founded, the average age of the children was 8,” notes Mr. Barnett. “Now it’s 13, and their needs are different. Older kids have yet another set of needs. The kids who’ve graduated from college don’t want to identify themselves as members of a 9/11 family, but they do want to talk to other kids in the same situation. We’re trying to do everything we can to meet those needs.”

But if Mr. Barnett and his staff take pride in the charity’s accomplishments, they haven’t forgotten the organization’s founder — or his troubled legacy.

“Tuesday’s Children is completely reflective of Chris,” says Mr. Barnett of Mr. Burke. “We never lose sight of that. At the same time, we also need to know that Chris hid from 9/11 in 9/11. He was a victim, too.”