SouthShoreNow.ca

Lisa Brown
Lighthouse staff

 COUNTY - South Shore residents are finding a new way to reach out to the families of the passengers of Swissair Flight 111.

 Fifty families - most from the area between Peggy's Cove, Hubbards and Blandford - have volunteered to be part of the Nova Scotia Swissair 111 Connections Society. That group, founded by a Dartmouth woman, will pair families here with relatives of the 229 crash victims. Local residents will help relatives from around the world remember birthdays, anniversaries and special dates by placing flowers at Peggy's Cove or a future memorial site.

 The idea began when Liz Benteau met a Philadelphia woman through a Swissair family website last October. They communicated over the internet and by phone. Then, on Christmas Eve, Barb Fetherolf sent flowers to Mrs. Benteau's home asking her to take them to Peggy's Cove the next day in memory of her 16-year-old daughter Tara who died in the crash.

 "That's pretty much when the whole thing started," Mrs. Benteau says. "I thought if there's one family that wanted that maybe there's a lot more."

 So far, eight Swissair families have asked to be matched with Nova Scotian families willing to assist them. Not all of the victims' families have been contacted, but Mrs. Benteau posted the offer on a Swissair family website, asked that it go in a family newsletter and has contacted the U.S. State Department asking them to forward a letter to families on her behalf.

Investigators working at Shearwater comb through bits of debris retrieved from the wreckage of Swissair Flight 111.

 Offers on this end have poured in. Along with the 50 families from the South Shore and Metro area who have volunteered, people from as far away as Cape Breton and Yarmouth have contacted Mrs. Benteau. They know they can't help with flowers, but are offering to do whatever they can.

 "There are so many Nova Scotians who just wanted to do something to help," says Mrs. Benteau, whose military husband Phonse assisted with the crash recovery effort.

 "It's something I expected from Nova Scotians. I just find here in Nova Scotia we're like that - anything we can do especially for somebody who has been through a severe tragedy, to reach out to them and do whatever we can to help them ease their pain a bit," she says.

 When a Swissair family requests a Nova Scotian family, Mrs. Benteau forwards two or three names. They can then communicate back and forth and the Swissair family can decide with whom they feel the most comfortable.

 The connections are helping families on both sides cope with the tragedy. Since becoming friends with the Fetherolfs, Mrs. Benteau feels almost like she too is mourning Tara, a girl she never knew. She says she can't imagine how victims' families so far away can deal with the tragedy.

 "I just can't even comprehend it. I can't," she says.

 The Nova Scotia Swissair 111 Connection Society continues to look for volunteer families. Mrs. Benteau can be reached by phoning 461-0542, e-mailing nsconnection@yahoo.com or writing N.S. Connections, c/o Liz Benteau, 94 Princess Margaret Blvd., Dartmouth, N.S., B3B 1A1.