Twenty-four years after his father died on Sept. 11, 2001, Patrick Lyons put on a golf fundraiser benefiting First Responders Children’s Foundation, an organization that aims to support first responders and their families.
The golf invitational, held at the Muttontown Country Club in East Norwich on Monday, Sept. 22, will raise funds for the organization’s student scholarships, bereavement assistance, and mental health programming.
Lyons, a Brookville resident, received the foundation’s scholarship award four years ago, and now that he has his own company, he said it’s “nice now, to give back and let other people have that same opportunity.”
“He’s choosing to give back in this beautiful way. I’m so proud of him,” said the foundation’s president and CEO, Jillian Crane.
Lyons’ father, Patrick, was a firefighter in squad 252 just one month before he was born.
In 2021, Lyons earned a scholarship from the First Responders Children’s Foundation before going on to graduate from Cornell University. Lyons graduated from college in 2023 and now owns Island Greens, an indoor golf course in Franklin Square, with his friend, Matthew Liotta.
“We decided, now that we’re up and running a little bit, it’s time to give back… The business is awesome, but the best part is having a place where we can give back,” Lyons said.
Crane said the First Responders Children’s Foundation was formed in 2001 after Sept. 11, in response to the 800 children who lost a first responder parent that day. She said she had been visiting New York from the West Coast on Sept. 11, 2001, and remembers watching emergency vehicles heading towards the towers from her hotel room window.
“It was just an indelible moment… So when I heard about the organization, I was excited to jump in and see if I could be of help,” she said.
She joined the foundation’s board of directors in 2013 and stepped into her role as president and CEO in 2022.
Crane said she has known Lyons since his scholarship application in 2021 and that his desire to give back is a “shining example” of the organization’s mission. She said he now sits on the scholarship council as well.
“We’re not just giving them money. We are introducing them to leadership skills,” she said.
Crane said the organization awarded over 300 student scholarships this year, a number she hopes to see grow in the coming years.
“The fact that Patrick graduated, started a company, and said, ‘What can I do to give back?’ … It really, I think, is in the DNA of a first responder child. They learn early about service,” she said.
The first-of-its-kind golf tournament will benefit the organization’s programming at large. Crane said the organization is the only national foundation dedicated to helping first responders’ families.
“These families are serving; they are sacrificing; they’re keeping us safe. And we really owe it to them to take care of their children,” Crane said.
For more information about the foundation and its programs, visit 1strcf.org.
