By
George
Lewis

"After
September 11, I felt so helpless to do anything that
made a difference. Helping the people of New York
as they struggle to decide the future uses for the
World Trade Center site is my chance to show them
that people in the heartland care."
--
Russ Williams, senior trainer in Human Resource Development
at the University of Kentucky
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July
18, 2002 (Lexington, Ky.) --
Russ Williams, the senior trainer in Human Resource
Development at the University of Kentucky, will arrive
in New York City today as one of 500 volunteer facilitators
specially chosen from around the nation to assist
in "Listening
to the City," a town meeting expected to
attract about 5,000 people to the Jacob Javits Center.
The facilitators
will assist participants' discussions as they choose
among six proposals for reconstruction of the area.
The owner of the property, the Port Authority of New
York and New Jersey, will use citizens' feedback from
Saturday and a series of similar meetings to reduce
the proposals to three and then one.
Williams,
who is traveling at his own expense, said, "A
volunteer opportunity like this comes once in a lifetime.
After September 11, I felt so helpless to do anything
that made a difference. Helping the people of New
York as they struggle to decide the future uses for
the World Trade Center site is my chance to show them
that people in the heartland care."
"There
will be 5,000 participants and 500 facilitators discussing
the proposals. I expect that there will be conflicts
and disagreements, but that's what makes the process
so exciting."
Williams'
facilitation brings UK's 9-11 involvement full circle.
A few days after the terrorist attacks, UK computer
programmer Leonard
Lauria, through his affiliation with search-and-rescue
agencies, volunteered to search for victims lost in
the rubble.
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