NORTHAMPTON — Lisa Lippiello was wearing her police uniform while dropping her daughter, not yet 2, off at school in Brooklyn. Walking into the school, parents swarmed around her asking what was going on, but she didn’t know.
Not yet.
It was Sept. 11, 2001, and while Lippiello now works as an attorney in Northampton, she was a lieutenant in the New York City Police Department at the time. As a New York City native and a first responder, the day became one of the most influential in her life, along with countless other people.
“I have always said that I don’t think it mattered whether you were a first responder, pumping gas, babysitting or were homeless. … I think after 9/11, living in New York, you just kind of reflected on — what am I doing?” Lippiello said during an interview outside her home in Northampton last Friday.
While some time has passed, on the 25th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on 9/11 next week, Lippiello said it is important now more than ever to remember the day’s impact. That is why she will be participating in a five-day, bike ride fundraiser from Boston to New York City, from Sept. 6 to 10.
The bike ride will be 343 miles long, honoring the 343 firefighters who died from the attacks on 9/11.
“Every last mile is going to be ridden,” Lippiello said.
The riders will pedal off at Fenway Park in Boston, riding down through south-central Massachusetts, Connecticut, and concluding in New York City where a commemoration event will take place.
People can currently donate to the fundraiser called the “9/11 Ride for Resilience,” hosted by the organization Livestrong. Proceeds will go toward thousands of first responders who continue to face 9/11-related cancer, trauma and mental health challenges. People can donate to specific riders, and Lippiello had raised approximately $4,700 as of Aug. 31.
Livestrong, founded in 1997, works to address cancer-care challenges, partnering with the New York-based nonprofit, Friends of Firefighters, and the Boston Fire Cancer Foundation for the ride.
“There are still many, many first responders that are dying from the attacks 25 years ago, when they develop cancer or breathing issues and things like that,” Lippiello said. “But there are (also) people that are still suffering mentally for it or still have physical disabilities.”
Nearly 3,000 people died on Sept. 11, 2001, from the attacks. The number of people who have died from 9/11-related health issues has far surpassed that number. More than 96,000 have been diagnosed with physical or mental health conditions from exposure to dust, smoke, debris and traumatic events, according to the World Trade Center Health Program.
Lippiello said that each of the some 200 bicyclists participating in the ride all have their own story from 9/11, but all are united in wanting to highlight the fight that continues for those who were affected across the country and world.
“It’s one of those things that you never forget. Everybody,” Lippiello said. “It doesn’t mean that anyone suffers any more than the other. That’s, I think, the biggest thing I got out of it personally.”
Lippiello remembers the aftermath from 9/11, working in Brooklyn in the following days, weeks and months after the attack. She said the plane crash in Rockaway, New York, just two months after 9/11, was much closer to where she was living at the time than the destruction of the twin towers. She started thinking it was time for a move.
“I remember feeling like, ‘I can’t live like this. I don’t want to live like this where there’s this constant anxiety,’ and then that’s when I started thinking, ‘You know what? This is not what I want for my kid,'” Lippiello said.
While she loved her time as a police lieutenant working in her home city, two years after Sept. 11, 2001, Lippiello moved to the Pioneer Valley, where she raised her two daughters and attended law school. Now, Lippiello said she has found a home in Northampton.
“I needed the distance to heal and everybody does it in a different way,” Lippiello said.
Lippiello competes in different triathlons and races, and has always had a competitive side as a natural athlete, but competition is not what this ride is about, she said. She hopes more people, especially younger generations, will continue to learn about the lingering aftermath from 9/11.
To donate, visit Lippiello’s page on Livestrong at impact.livestrong.org/fundraisers/lisalippiellogmailcom.
