The Freedom Tower

A website called APP.com reports that “Sal Tieri would have been 47 on March 2.It was, as it is every year, a somber day for Maureen Tieri, whose husband was killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

But this year, she has newfound inspiration.

Tieri, 45, of Shrewsbury, has opened a youth development center that hosts after-school programs for children and teens, ages 7 to 18. It is her way, she says, of contributing to the community that gave so much to her after her husband’s death.

“It’s given me a sense of focus and purpose,” said Tieri, president and founder of Summit Youth Development. “It’s about wanting to give back.”

Summit, which is located in a shopping center at Route 35 and Shrewsbury Avenue, has become Tieri’s home away from home. Since classes began earlier this year, she has been busy, running the facility and spending time with her two children, Austen, 11, and Jonathan, 13, who often participate in the programs themselves or just help out around the center.

About a year of planning and development went into Summit, which offers children’s fitness and homework-help programs, Tieri said. An education consultant, Judith Baer, supervises and helps children with schoolwork. A certified personal trainer and coach, Greg Carbone, keeps kids moving with strength, endurance and agility exercises on the 60-yard indoor turf field. Nutrition counseling is also available.

The center also hosts a Fun Night on Fridays, when children can come for three hours to play dodge ball and other games, as well as socialize.

“I’m not doing this for financial reasons,” Tieri, a former regional underwriting manager for AIG turned stay-at-home-mom, said of her reasons behind opening Summit. “I didn’t have to do this. I did it because I have a passion for children and the needs of kids.”

Sal Tieri, a managing director at the insurance brokerage firm of Marsh & McLennan, did not work at the World Trade Center — his office was in midtown Manhattan — but he was in the trade center the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, for a meeting. His wife didn’t know that at the time, which made it even more painful when she discovered that he had died.

After his death, Tieri was heartbroken. But tenacious and strong-willed, she decided to pursue life as a single mom, not just to her own children, but as sort of a surrogate to others’ children — by helping them stay healthy.

“I thought, “There absolutely has to be a way to get kids moving while they’re having fun,’ ” she said.

Her daily life is speckled with words of encouragement, thoughts of inspiration.

She routinely gets inspirational text messages on her Blackberry, and can recite many from memory. Her favorite: “Use what talents you possess: The woods would be very silent if the only birds who sang were those who sang best.”

On her office wall at Summit hangs a framed, autographed photograph of the U.S.A. Olympic Ice Hockey team that against all odds won the gold medal in 1980. Given to her as a gift by a friend, she displays it proudly for encouragement.

Tieri also has used her own children for inspiration and to craft programs at Summit.