By Anthony Rifilato
It was September, just four days after the fifth anniversary of the attacks. As the founder of ArtAID, a Baldwin-based non-profit organization that creates artwork memorializing the tragedy, Scialdone and his team had installed an updated tribute piece at ground zero - a towering 29-foot-by-8-foot banner that read "Never Forget," with the names of all the victims.
"I could not help notice the joy on the faces of survivors who searched for their loved-one's name, the tears of joy and excitement, especially when there was an actual printed image," the mother wrote. "When I saw my son's name, my whole world brightened up."
For the past five years, Scialdone has brought similar moments of hope to countless others, whether through his artwork, his fund-raising efforts or his assistance with numerous initiatives aimed at helping victims' families or memorializing those killed in the line of duty.
Scialdone, the Herald's 2006 Person of the Year, has never been a police officer or firefighter or served in the military. He is just a neighborhood guy from Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, who wanted to honor friends who were killed on 9/11. But through ArtAID, he has taken his appreciation for police officers, firefighters and soldiers to a whole new level over the last five years.
The organization has an official relationship with the New York Police Department, the Fire Department and other agencies. ArtAID's projects are funded entirely by Scialdone, and the organization receives no money for its artwork aside from some donations, which are never solicited.
"He doesn't expect anything back - he just does it out of the kindness of his heart," said Baldwin resident Jeanin Urbina, whose brother, Army Spc. Wilfredo Urbina, was killed in Iraq in 2004. After his death, ArtAID created a memorial piece in his honor depicting a valiant angel, and copies were distributed at ceremonies and placed at the Baldwin firehouse where Urbina volunteered.
A one-time Brooklyn bar owner, Scialdone grew up with a lot of friends who were police officers or firefighters. When someone was killed in the line of duty, he would organize a benefit for a widow or an officer's children. "Back then, when he owned the
bar, he ran mostly benefits for cops, but since 9/11
it's become larger," said Angel Lopez, who works at Scialdone's current business, Millennium Protective Services, and is an ArtAID volunteer.
After 9/11, Scialdone felt compelled to do something to honor those who died. He met artist Keith Piaseczny, who had used the image of an angel to honor firefighters at ground zero, and the two teamed up and formed ArtAID, creating more memorial pieces and artwork in the aftermath of the attacks. In addition to the firefighter's angel, ArtAID gained attention with the Never Forget banner and, later, a tribute piece at the public viewing platform at ground zero - one of the first memorial installations to formally honor those who were killed - as well as many other works.
"When we first did it, I think people were just overwhelmed by the enormity of what had happened," Scialdone said. "But what they saw, like the memorial angel, acted as a conduit to get them to another place."
The Urbina family was so taken by the artwork - and Scialdone's assistance during their time of grief - that they honored him with a plaque at a 2005 Memorial Day ceremony in Baldwin. Scialdone was so shy, Jeanin Urbina said, that he could barely come to terms with the accolades. The plaque, along with countless other citations and certificates, is mounted on the wall of Millennium's Baldwin office.
"When they started doing the angels for my brother, he's a shy person, he didn't want to be recognized," Urbina said of Scialdone. "I thought it was so nice. When you go through things like that, you don't think that complete strangers will become close to you. They've seriously become family."
ArtAID recently created a memorial angel for another soldier from Baldwin who died in Iraq, Marine Sgt. Julian Arechaga, who was killed in Anbar Province in October. Arechaga's family came in to thank the ArtAID team, Scialdone said.
"When Baldwin suffered the loss of two heroes in Iraq and a New York City detective, who were all killed in action, Tony sprung into action, as always,"
said Baldwin Fire Department District Supervisor Jerry Brown, who met Scialdone after 9/11. Brown said that Scialdone and his team were there for the families of those who had perished, whether by printing mass cards, distributing posters or helping out during street dedications.
"Well after the attacks of 9/11, I watched with amazement during the next few years his untiring efforts toward the firefighters, the police, the soldiers and anyone else that needed help or comfort-
ing," Brown said. "Baldwin is a better place since he has been here."
Thomas Cooleen, a longtime firefighter and honorary chief of the Rockville Centre Fire Department, who also met Scialdone after 9/11, said that many families are moved by the memorial angels ArtAID creates for their loved ones. "Quite a few people from Long Island and Rockville Centre died on 9/11," Cooleen said. "We just knew that there was an angel someplace, and it just happened to be Tony."
Cooleen said that Scialdone was extraordinarily generous when it came to helping the annual Tunnel to Towers run, in which runners follow in the footsteps of fallen firefighter Stephen Siller, who, on Sept. 11, ran through the Brooklyn/Battery Tunnel to the World Trade Center. He is also involved in the Wounded Warriors benefit, America's 9/11 Foundation and many others. Scialdone donates his time and creates banners and artwork for the events and related ceremonies.
"He'll help out when we need posters and things like that," said Cooleen. "And he does it all off the cuff."
Scialdone has also been very active in street dedications to those who were killed in the line of duty or on 9/11 -- including Baldwin residents -- and never refuses a family's request for artwork. "There's no ego involved here, just a desire to honor those who have served and given their lives," said New York City Councilman Vincent Gentile of Brooklyn, who has worked with Scialdone on a number of ceremonies and memorial events.
"We were hit hard. This part of Brooklyn near the Verrazano Bridge was hit hard," Gentile said. "Particularly with street namings, Tony has helped greatly during those ceremonies. The families appreciate it tremendously because it adds a real sense of dignity and solemnity to the proceedings. It's no longer just a sign with a name on it."
Scialdone is not political, he said. While he supports the troops fighting in Iraq, he won't publicly offer his opinion of the war. Sometimes, he said, anonymous, negative messages, mostly criticizing the war, are left on the Never Forget banner, which now adorns his building. "I've had people write nasty notes, a derogatory comment next to the deceased's name or about the president," he said.
But Scialdone is undeterred. "I don't get into politics," he said. "I support the troops, without a doubt, but I won't get into political debates. They're my personal views and don't belong with this."
There are occasions when he will take sides, however -- particularly for victims' families. When relatives of 9/11 victims rallied against a project in 2005 that they claimed would have dishonored their loved ones' memories, Scialdone created petitions and art work for the group, which called itself World Trade Center Families for Proper Burial. The group blasted a plan to turn Staten Island's Fresh Kills landfill -- where human remains were sifted from ground zero debris -- into a public park.
If it were up to Scialdone, he would just as soon not donate any more artwork; he doesn't want to hear about another tragedy. He rarely attends funerals, mostly out of fear that relatives who are unfamiliar with his work would think he is pandering or soliciting when he brings them the artwork.
"I'll never deny a request, and never take a nickel," Scialdone said. "I don't want anything for myself, just the families to understand that there are people who are there to support them."
Scialdone's support has gone international. In response to the terrorist attacks on London's public transportation system last year, which killed scores of innocent civilians, ArtAID launched the "United in Spirit -- Sister City" project. In a demonstration of solidarity and sympathy with the victims of that attack, a coalition of 9/11 family groups and organizations joined to support ArtAID's effort to send a memorial banner to London, which they signed with words of support.
Scialdone has also been instrumental in raising funds for the United Services Organization's "Operation Care Package" this year, which sends items like playing cards and toiletries to troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. Last month ArtAID co-sponsored a fund-raiser in Brooklyn, which raised more than $35,000 for the initiative.
"I really wish there were more people like him in this world," Joe DiTillio, owner of Amore Mio Pizza in Baldwin, said of Scialdone. DiTillio, whose father owns a pizzeria on Cortland Street in Lower Manhattan, 200 feet from ground zero, worked at his father's restaurant and lost many friends on 9/11. He met Scialdone when he opened his pizzeria in Baldwin, and has since filled his back wall with ArtAID memorial prints and gotten involved in some of their tribute efforts.
"I've suffered dearly from 9/11, and Tony and I both belong to organizations together," DiTillio said. "He's got to have the biggest heart out of everybody that I've ever met. If there was one word to describe him, it would have to be 'angel.'"
Comments about this story? JKellard@liherald.com, or (516) 569-4000 ext. 287.
