Jeffrey Coombs Road Race a 9/11 healing aid

(NECN: John Moroney, Abington, Mass.) – Friday marked the eighth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States. Sunday morning, a road race was held in memory of a Massachusetts man who died on American Airlines Flight 11. The sixth annual Jeffrey Coombs Memorial Road Race helped raise funds for those in need. “It’s good to take the tragedy and turn it into something positive, and that’s what we’ve tried to do through this,” widow Christie Coombs said. The event raises money for the Jeffrey Coombs foundation, which has distributed over $250,000 to needy causes in the last five years. “We help out families who are going through a hard time, emotionally and financially, as a result of death or illness or other things that cause issues in their family,” Christie Coombs said. Other than the families that receive financial assistance, the race provides a sort of healing for families of victims of the September 11th attacks. “It’s nice for everybody to get together at something like this in a more festival atmosphere than some of the 9/11 commemoration stuff that goes on,” said one runner. “Everybody heals different.”