Two Pelham siblings were rewarded recently for raising almost $400 for the victims of the tragic Sept. 11 attack.

Ten-year-old Kennith Young and 7-year-old Mary Allison Young, children of Brad and Erimi Young of Pelham, now proudly don Fire Department New York hats and T-shirts.

The pair received the gifts from their local heroes, members of the Pelham Fire Department.

Brad Young said after the tragedy his children wanted to help. Their grandmother, Seiko Heacock of Indian Springs, had the idea to sell tiny American flags made out of safety pins much like other individuals and organizations were doing.

So the Pelham kids helped their grandmother make the pins, Brad Young said, and then set out to sell them to businesses and at their school. Selling the pins was easy, he said, but the trouble came when they had to decide where to send the money.

&uot;We wanted to send it up to New York but we heard of all the problems they were having getting the money to the right people,&uot; Brad Young said. &uot;Then we heard about a Shelby County group.&uot;

The group Young spoke of is Crisis Assistance Resource Education. The group is made up of local law enforcement officials who have visited New York and Ground Zero now almost a handful of times to provide counseling.

The counseling is provided to responders such as police officers and firefighters involved in Sept. 11 and the events following.

The group has assisted in the debriefing of hundreds of Ground Zero workers.

&uot;We wanted to dedicate the money to their efforts,&uot; Brad Young said. &uot;The money is for their ongoing mission.&uot;

Pelham Fire Chief Gary Waters, a member of the CARE team, said the Youngs made a wise choice.

&uot;This was a real surprise for a seven and ten-year-old to do this and expect nothing in return,&uot; Water said. &uot;This money bought two return (airline) tickets.&uot;

The shy Kennith Young said he would gladly do it again.

&uot;I thought it was pretty cool,&uot; he said