Fire Lt. Joseph Huber (second row, third from left) welcomes Pam Schott to Ladder 38 yesterday, along with (second row, from left) Firefighters Mike Dolan, Edwin Rodriguez, Chris Bedard, Bill Woods, Lt. Tim Klett and Mike Housepian and (first row, from left) Firefighters Chris Phillips, Tom Cosgrove, Bob Brown and Mike Russo. Schott is married to the mayor of Anthony, Kan., which is building a memorial to FDNY's 9/11 dead.

In the weeks after 9/11, people across the country felt a new kinship with New York City and its Bravest, but the bond that a small Kansas town developed with a Bronx firehouse has only grown stronger as the wounds have healed.

"They latched onto us like a pit bull," Fire Lt. Joseph Huber of Ladder 38 joked yesterday.

Now, the Belmont Ave. firehouse and its sister company, Engine 88, are trying to help the tiny town fund its 9/11 memorial, featuring steel from the World Trade Center, which the firehouse helped the town obtain.

Like most Americans, the residents of Anthony, Kan. - all 2,400 of them - wanted to do something for the heroes of 9/11. But Anthony Mayor John Schott didn't want the goodwill to dissolve into a faceless relief fund, so he set out to find a specific family his town could help.

Schott's search led him to Ladder 38, which lost second-generation Firefighter Joseph Spor Jr., who was detailed to Rescue 3 that fateful day.

"We just wanted to do something," the mayor's wife, Pam Schott, said yesterday on a visit to the firehouse. "We felt so helpless."

In the months that followed, Anthony's residents sent cards and money for Spor's widow, Colleen, and their four children. Elementary school students sent holiday cards and valentines to the Bravest at the firehouse units, nicknamed First Due at the Zoo for their proximity to the Bronx Zoo. Members of Anthony's volunteer fire department stood on Main St. with their boots outstretched for donations.

Pam Schott's New York trip is meant to help raise money for the town's 9/11 memorial, which aims to be a monument to the heroes of that day but also a testament to the bonds of cooperation that followed.

"There were so many bad things that came out of 9/11, but this is something good. They're our friends now," said Huber, who served as host to the Schotts in his home on their first visit to New York.

"This relationship, this town, is as much a part of me now as the event itself," Huber said.

The memorial will feature a brick walkway leading to the centerpiece steel beams from the wreckage. Organizers hope to sponsor individually inscribed bricks for $35 each.

Huber marched with the Anthony volunteer firefighters in Kansas City's St. Patrick's Day Parade to raise money, and the townsfolk continue to dig deep. But the $70,000 goal is still a long way off.

"That's like a million dollars to us in Anthony," Pam Schott said.

To donate money or to sponsor a brick, visit the site www.9-11MemorialAnthonyKs.org

Originally published on March 23, 2004