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The World Trade Center Family Center, opened by the South Nassau Communities Hospital, took over an unused storefront in Rockville Centre to assist 9/11 family members in the area as early as September 18. In the beginning it was a place for people to get their basic needs met and to find answers and support. In the end, the Center served the community for nearly seven years, assisting more than 2,000 people, including 700 children, and hosting 20 different support groups. It was a place for families to come and be around other people who understood what it meant to be a 9/11 family member. It was a safe place where they could take their children to play and help them begin to understand what had happened. It was a place for parents, siblings, spouses, first responders, and recovery workers to find the support they needed to begin to heal.  

Initially funded by the South Nassau Communities Hospital, the Center later operated on funds from Project Liberty, the September 11th Fund, private donations, and grants from the Robin Hood Foundation and other philanthropic groups. From the beginning, the World Trade Center Family Center was designed to be an open and warm environment, decorated with children’s artwork and filled with toys, food, and comfortable couches. The Center offered grief counseling, programming to teach lifestyle skills, and community events to foster resiliency. It also offered art therapy, acting classes, life coaching, writing workshops, pet therapy, discussion groups, retreats, partnerships, and much more. It was a lifeline for a grieving community and a model for how to cope with unthinkable tragedy.