It’s now been 25 years, but dealers still vividly remember the vicious tragedies in New York and Washington, D.C.

Greater New York Automobile Dealers Association president Mark Schienberg was overseas on business on Sept. 11, 2001. Schienberg was attending the Frankfurt Auto Show with New York Auto Show chairman John LaSorsa and GNYADA board chairman Michael Caruso.

Despite being on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean from the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, the group immediately began discussing how New York’s car dealers could get involved in the recovery efforts.

With limited cell service available in New York due to the collapse of the twin towers, Schienberg contacted Mark Herrmann, the association’s representative to the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA), to help establish a national response. That effort led to the NADA Survivors Relief Fund, which brought dealers from across the country together to support families and survivors of the attacks. Within weeks, the fund had received hundreds of thousands of dollars in dealer contributions.

At home, GNYADA mobilized its members.

On Sept. 26, the association announced the creation of the Greater New York Auto Dealers Disaster Relief Fund, seeded with an initial $250,000 contribution from GNYADA.

The association called on dealers, manufacturers, suppliers, and dealer associations to contribute to relief efforts.

The response went beyond financial support. New York dealers donated 18 vans to the American Red Cross to assist with rescue and relief operations.

The broader automotive industry was doing the same, with automakers and dealers providing hundreds of vehicles, generators, ATVs, and other equipment to agencies working at Ground Zero and elsewhere.

The industry’s support also assisted individual families that felt the impact directly.

In January 2002, the Georgia Automobile Dealers Association delivered a 12-passenger Chevrolet Express van to the family of fallen FDNY firefighter Frank Palombo, who left behind his wife and ten children.

Georgia dealers raised $22,000 toward the vehicle, General Motors provided an extended warranty, and GNYADA provided a year’s worth of fuel.

GNYADA hosted a media event in Manhattan to get the word out and garner additional support for the family.

GNYADA also funded the restoration of a fire truck from a volunteer Bronx firehouse that was severely damaged while responding to the World Trade Center. The restored truck was dedicated at the 2002 New York International Auto Show, in a ceremony attended by former New York City mayor Giuliani and former Fire Commissioner Thomas Von Essen.

GNYADA and the New York Auto Show continue to find ways to honor and recognize the men and women who serve New York and their communities.

First responders have remained a recurring part of the Auto Show’s programming and community outreach, culminating in the establishment of First Responders Appreciation Day, which provides complimentary and discounted admission to eligible fire, police, and EMS personnel and their families.

“Twenty-five years later, we remember the lives lost, the families forever changed, and the extraordinary courage of the first responders who ran toward danger,” Schienberg said in a news release. “But we also remember how the automobile industry came together. Dealers didn’t just write checks. They provided vehicles, equipment, their time working at ground zero helping feed the first responders, and they reached out to families who had lost everything.”