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HOPE Week 2011 continued Tuesday afternoon at the Beekman Beach Club at the South Street Seaport, where former Yankees manager Joe Torre joined current players Mariano Rivera, Curtis Granderson, Phil Hughes, Cory Wade and Steve Garrison to surprise and honor Tuesday's Children. Joe Auriemma took this cool photo of the Yankees presenting the organization with a $10,000 check. Following lunch and games, the crew will ride the the Delta Baseball Water Taxi past the Statue of Liberty en route to Yankee Stadium for tonight's game against the Mariners (My9, 7 p.m.).

THE STORY OF TUESDAY’S CHILDREN
During the tragic day of Sept. 11, 2001, thousands of children lost their parents and thousands of parents lost their children. As the 10-year anniversary of that dark day approaches, the voids created from the losses continue to be immeasurable.

Tuesday’s Children was founded in the year following the terrorist attacks to promote healing and recovery. The organization established a unique mentoring program that has helped to heal still-open wounds. Serving the greater New York tri-state region, its mentorship program supports relationships between affected children and adult role models who themselves have lost family as a result of tragic circumstances. To date, more than 175 children have participated in the program, including 50 who are currently part of active mentoring relationships.

The relationships support the emotional and social growth of the mentees as their mentors share coping skills and act as a shoulder to lean on. The pairs meet at least twice a month, and the get-togethers are informal, involving anything from going to the movies, playing at a park or just hanging out in the house.

For the mentors, the pain of losing a family member did nothing to dry up the reservoir of love in their hearts.

MENTOR OF THE YEAR PRESENTATION: During the beach party on Tuesday, Keith Pryde from Middletown, N.Y., was honored as Tuesday’s Children’s “Mentor of the Year.” He was matched with 10-year-old Robert in February 2008. One year earlier, Keith lost his sister in the April 2007 Virginia Tech campus shootings. His mentee, Robert, was born a month before his father, a foreign exchange broker at Cantor Fitzgerald, was killed on Sept. 11. Keith and his fiancée, Rebecca, are engaged to be married in September 2012, with Robert set to serve as their ring bearer.

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