Jay Winuk is the co-founder of 9/11 day, a national day of service, honoring those who served that day. 30 million Americans joined the national day of service last year.
Jay’s younger brother Glenn, was among those who died on 9/11. 40-year-old Glenn was a law partner at Holland & Knight, with offices just 2 blocks away from The World Trade Center. But Glenn was also a 20-year volunteer firefighter and EMT where he grew up in Jericho, Long Island.
On the morning of 9/11, Glenn was still at his apartment in midtown when he got news the South Tower had been hit, quickly collecting his rescue gear and heading downtown to the South tower to save lives, as he did in ’93 during the first bombing of The World Trade Center.
This time, Glenn did not survive his rescue mission. His family never learned how many lives he saved that day before losing his own. With no remains to bury in the pine box of a traditional Jewish burial, his loved ones followed the tradition of those lost in The Holocaust.
They buried some of Glenn’s belongings: a law book from school; some department memorabilia; a toy fire truck from his childhood; some items from his Bar Mitzvah. 5 months after his funeral, some of Glenn’s partial remains were found at Ground Zero, alongside those of other first responders, including the only female member of the New York City Police Department to lose her life that day.