Contributed photo This World Trade Center photo, taken and copyrighted by Bob Ratner, is available for sale at several locations, including all branches of the First National Bank of Jeffersonville, the Community Bank of Sullivan County, BRD Printing and the United Way of Sullivan County. For more information on where to purchase a copy of the photo, call the EAA Chapter 1140 Office at 914/866-9279. (Click for larger image)

Worth a thousand words…

By SARAH KOENIG

KAUNEONGA LAKE — By his own admission, Bob Ratner is no photographer.

“I’m a flight instructor,” he said. “I would take pictures through the window of one of my airplanes, hundreds of pictures on flights I would make with my students. But this one picture just really stood out.”

“After the September 11 incident, I looked through all the photos I’d taken of the World Trade Center. When I found it,” he said, “I knew that it had the potential to raise a lot of money.”

As a member of the EAA, an aviation group that gives disadvantaged children a chance to ride in airplanes free of charge, Ratner was aware of the very personal impact a charity organization could have on an affected community. Ratner saw the photo as a wonderful opportunity to make a difference.

Ratner immediately had the photo copyrighted. A simple frame and a graphic of an American flag completed the picture, and Ratner set about looking for businesses to join the fundraising effort.

The owner of BRD Printing, who is one of Ratner’s flight students, has contributed some 40 man-hours to the project so far, doing “anything we can.” BRD got two printing companies, Steingardt in Fallsburg and Tri Copy in Kingston, to produce free copies of the photo, which were sold by local businesses for $10 each.

In exchange for being a distribution center for the photograph, and generating considerable word of mouth and credibility, 100 percent of the profits are going to bonofied charities that are aiding the victims and their families of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States, 20 percent of the proceeds of the sale will remain local, helping the United Way assist Sullivan County residents who have been affected by the disaster in New York City and Washington, D.C.

“A lot of people in Sullivan County have been hurt by this,” said chapter director Linda Cellini, “both financially and personally. And so much of the money being raised now is going into the September 11th Fund for the city that there was some concern we had to start rebuilding our local chapters.”

In addition to the United Way, several local, state and federal politicians have endorsed the effort.

“There is no ‘I’ in this,” Ratner insists. “From the businesses who are distributing the photo to those buying it, this is a wonderful group endeavor.”