www.911ashistory.org

September 11, 2001. It's hard to imagine any other day that saw one single question uttered so many times. That question: What can I do to help?

Emergencies cause that reaction, of course. People need to feel part of a coping process, reaching out to victims as they themselves try to assuage their own sense of chaos. Our part of Connecticut, suffering more than 100 deaths that day, continues to ask that question. And to answer it.

Case in point is a website, called www.911ashistory.org. And here is how it came about. Lois Backon, a Westport resident and mother of two, has a friend who runs a foundation for Bank One in Chicago. Last spring, they talked about polls showing up to 80 percent of children under 18 fearing for their safety following the attacks of September 11th. What might help, they reasoned, was a website offering not only tips for parents on how to calm the fears, but for teachers as well, on how to put the events into historic perspective. Surely, they thought, someone somewhere was working on such a site.

But no, they could find no one who was. So they did it themselves. Rounded up psychologists and educators from across the country, held focus groups, assigned research and writing projects. Finally, just in time for the 9/11 anniversary, a first-class website was born -- offering lesson plans for all aged children, web-based tools and many other resources.

Nobody paid Lois Backon or her band of volunteers for months of work on this public service. When people ask that question -- what can I do to help -- no payback is expected. But that doesn't mean we can't thank them.