The people of Celeron, New York never want to forget the horrible events of 9/11.  They lost one of their own that day, Flight Attendant Amy King.  A 5-K race is held in Celeron every year in memory of Amy. This year the race had a very special guest, Paul ‘Paulie’ Veneto, of Braintree, Massachusetts.

Paulie worked as a United Airlines flight attendant with Amy King for many years.  Amy was on Flight 175 on September 11, 2001 from Boston to Los Angeles when terrorists commandeered the plane and flew it into the South Tower of the World Trade Center in New York.  Paulie had the day off after working on that very aircraft the night before. Since that day, his thoughts have been with all the flight attendants who lost their lives on 9/11.

"About a year after 9/11, I had the thought of what I was going to do,” he said. “I knew I was going to have to recognize them and I needed national attention.  That's when the thought came that I was going to push a beverage cart from the gate they left out of to Ground Zero."

Paulie did it.  This year, on the 20th Anniversary of the terrorist attacks, he pushed a flight attendant’s beverage cart from Boston's Logan Airport to Ground Zero.  It took him 22 days to cover the 219 miles.

The people of Celeron organize a 5-K race to honor Amy King every year.  The first race was two months after 9/11.  Last Saturday was the 21st running of the event and Race Director Tom Anderson invited Paulie and his beverage cart to Chautauqua County to participate.

"He said I flew with Amy.  I knew Amy personally and I will be there in person to push the cart,” Anderson said.

Amy’s mother Deb was touched by Paulie’s response.

"I can't really put into words what it means to us,” she said.

As Paulie pushed off at the start of the race, his thoughts were with Amy and the first time he met her. He says he was in awe.  After visiting her hometown, he says he now knows how she turned out so special.

"She was who she was because of her family and because of her community,” he said.  "It's an emotional thing for me, of course, but I'm so grateful that I'm here.  So grateful that I have the opportunity to recognize her.  I know she would do the same thing for me."

The events of 9/11 almost had a terrible, almost tragic, effect on Paulie.  He fell into drug addiction for several years.  He has led a drug-free life since 2015.