On Sunday, April 13, at 1 p.m., the Mystic-based St. Mary Frances Circle of the Daughters of Isabella will host a special presentation titled “Reflections of Faith and Hope” at the Saint Patrick Center, 30 East Main Street in Mystic. The event is free to the public and will be presented by 9/11 survivor and Stonington resident, Dan Holdridge.
“Dan Holdridge was in the Pentagon on 9/11 when the plane hit,” St. Mary Frances Circle of the Daughters of Isabella member Linda Abbiati explained. “The presentation is about his faith and how [surviving 9/11] changed his life.”
Holdridge, who was working with Electric Boat at the time, was in Washington, D.C., on business and was inside the Pentagon when the hijacked American Airlines Flight 77 Boeing 757-223 deliberately crashed into the side of the building, killing close to 190 people both on the plane and in the building. Before the attack, the group Holdridge was with had all gone outside, but Holdridge declined, staying inside, a decision that saved his life as everyone in the party was killed when the plane hit. Holdridge was able to get out of the burning building and to safety.
“The message of the presentation is how to live your life,” Abbiati explained. “You don’t know what’s coming around the bend, so it’s more about how to take it a day at a time and enjoy your life and not getting caught up with all the rush and hubbub that’s involved with life.”
The Daughters of Isabella (DOI) was first founded in New Haven in 1897, and is one of the largest Catholic women’s organizations in the world with more than 60,000 members throughout the U.S. and Canada. The 80 or so members of the St. Mary Frances circle of the DOI are constantly working toward its main goal of helping others.
“We raise money for many different charities,” Abbiati explained. “We have four area high schools that we give scholarships to every year, we send money every month to those in need in Haiti. If we find anyone in town in need, we help them. We helped a lot of people when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, and of course we help our own, any of our sisters that might be having problems, and we raise money for our church.”
Abbiati said she was very excited to have Holdridge coming to speak, and expressed her desire for a very large crowd.
The event is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served.
RSVP to Linda Abbiati at 535-0288.