Kids' fund keeps alive memory of 9/11 victim
By Catherine Holahan
Staff Writer

RIVER EDGE - Todd Ouida didn't show fear on Sept. 11. As he tried to escape from the 105th floor of the World Trade Center's north tower, Ouida called his mother to assure her that he and his father, who worked on the tower's 77th floor, would be fine.

The 25-year-old stockbroker's father, Herbert Ouida, escaped that day. Todd did not.

For Ouida, his son's last phone call is just another example of Todd's emotional and psychological strength - built after years of struggling with childhood anxiety that kept him from attending elementary school.

"Even at the moment of greatest peril in his life, he was protecting his mother," Ouida said. "He overcame those problems ... and he never looked back."

Ouida started the Todd Ouida Children's Foundation with his son's friends and family shortly after Todd's memorial service in November 2001. The foundation honors Todd's spirit by raising money to help children with anxiety and other psychological problems, enabling them to overcome them as Todd did, Ouida said.

The foundation, which has raised more than $500,000 for New Jersey children's charities, got a $10,000 award recently from CIBC World Markets. Each year, the bank picks a charity to receive the proceeds of its "miracle day" - 24 hours in which all the fees, commissions, and other monies earned by the bank are donated to charity.

The foundation was chosen because of its work helping families pay for psychological services and funding other mental health programs in the state.

Ouida thinks that work is particularly important today.

"We live in an explosive world, a frightening world in many ways ... and that is creating stress and anxiety," Ouida said, adding that anxiety affects both kids and adults. "Parents think, 'He'll grow out of it' or 'She'll grow out of it.'-That is so untrue."

Ouida said parents also often simply get medication for their child without paying for the appropriate psychotherapy. The first psychiatrist Todd saw offered Ouida a similar quick fix for his son's anxiety about attending the fourth grade. But Ouida decided to pay for years of psychotherapy to help Todd, who was home-schooled from Grades 3 to 6 because of severe panic attacks in school.

With the help of psychotherapy, Todd returned to River Dell Regional schools in seventh grade, Ouida said. He became an honor student, played football, and wrestled. He went on to graduate from the University of Michigan with a degree in psychology and got a job working for the financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald.

"There are things in life that you can't understand," Ouida said. "We thank God that we did have Todd for 25 years and that he overcame those problems."

Todd would have been 28 this May 18. The charity will have a fund-raising event for his birthday between noon and 4 p.m. at the Tony DiNapoli Restaurant in New York City. For more information, visit www.mybuddytodd.com.