The parents of a young 9/11 victim are turning their loss into a gain for other youth.
When Clifton Cottom took his 11-year-old daughter Asia to the airport on September 11, 2001, he didn’t know that would be the last time he saw her alive.
“I took her to the airport on September 11. Dropped her off. Said my goodbyes,” Clifton told WVEC.
As he drove to work, news of planes driving into the Twin Towers and Pentagon hit the radio. Asia was on the latter.
“I told two of my co-workers, ‘That’s my daughter’s plane,’” said Clifton.
His wife, Michelle, found out about the attack during a meeting and came to the same realization.
“That was when I was like, ‘Wait a minute… my daughter is on a plane,” Michelle said.
Asia won an essay contest and was on her way to California when the American Airlines aircraft was hijacked and redirected to Washington D.C. The plane crashed into the Pentagon, killing 184 people.
Losing a child is hard enough but the publicity around the event made the grieving process more intense.
“Because it was so public and so tragic, everybody was falling apart,” Michelle said. "Just trying to keep them and help them have faith and try to understand something that we didn’t understand either… I think that it took probably years for me to actually start grieving. A lot of years.”
In the midst of the darkness, the family began to receive financial support, usually in denominations of 11 for Asia’s age and the date of the attack. The couple couldn’t figure out what to do with the money so a friend suggested a scholarship fund and the Asia SiVon Cottom Memorial Scholarship Fund was born.
So far, the fund has given out $250,000 in scholarships for students interested in science, technology, engineering and math, according to its website. Asia was interested in STEM and dreamed of attending college. For the Cottoms, sending other kids to college keeps Asia’s memory alive.
“For me to watch students grow was my way of being able to send Asia to college. Over and over and over again,” said Michelle. “Through the foundation is how we healed a little bit too.”
The scholarship fund accepts donations from private citizens and corporations. They also host fundraisers and are planning a golf tournament for 2019.
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