|
### 01-AC0106/BD |
### 01-AC0106/BD
MIAMI-DADE SCHOOLTEACHER PLEDGES $21,500 TO UNITED WAY TO
HONOR NEW YORK RELATIVES
November 14, 2001
A Miami-Dade County schoolteacher whose firefighter cousin
and three other relatives died in the World Trade Center
disaster will be recognized before the School Board today
for pledging $21,500 over a three-year period to United
Way.
Marlene Desdunes, a third-grade teacher at Fulford
Elementary School who earns $36,450 a year, is making the
hefty donation in honor of her first cousin Gerard Baptiste,
one of the firefighters with New York's Ladder 9 company who
died when World Trade Center Tower One collapsed.
"Gerry was like a brother to me," says the 31-year-old
Desdunes, who was born in Brooklyn of Haitian descent. "He
was only 35. My family was devastated."
Her United Way pledge will be made through payroll
deductions totalling $4,000 the first year, $7,500 the
second, and $10,000 the third year.
Desdunes will be honored shortly after the the monthly
School Board meeting begins at 1 p.m. For more information,
contact Marlene Desdunes at Fulford Elementary School,
305-949-3425. The school is located at 16140 N.E. 18 Ave.,
North Miami Beach.