By NICK ABADJIAN

Hector Algarroba marked the one-month anniversary of his parent’s death on Flight 587 by finally being able to lay them to rest.

Algarroba didn’t leave his home much this past month, but he made it to his son’s basketball game at McClancy High School in Jackson Heights on the night of Dec. 4. Steven, 15, is a sophomore who plays for McClancy’s junior varsity Crusaders.

As he watched the game, his head resting on his hands, Algarroba’s heart focused on his parents, whose bodies had yet to be identified. It would not be until Dec. 8 that officials would notify him what he already knew in his heart . . . that his DNA had allowed them to identify the remains of his parents.

"Hell must be an amusement park compared to what I’m going through," the 48-year-old said. His parents were Hippolito, 83, and Ubencia, 73.

From the bleachers of the gym, Algarroba spoke to the Tribune of the month he spent waiting before he could bury his parents and of how the agony of that month has helped him further his campaign to help underprivileged kids.

Immediately after the crash, the City set up an office at the Jacob Javits Convention Center for the victim’s families with staff from American Airlines and the City’s Medical Examiner’s Office.

The Medical Examiner’s Office told him and the other families of passengers on Flight 587 that all of the bodies had been recovered and it would take a week to ten days to identify them. Three weeks later, out of the 265 victims from the plane and the ground, just 12 bodies had not been medically identified.

Ubencia and Hippolito Algarroba are joined by school kids in Los Conoco in the Dominican Republic. Though the school (in the background) was destroyed by Hurricane George the 300 students show up for class in the dilapidated structure, proudly wearing their uniforms. The Algarroba’s HHS Foundation plans on rebuilding the school with help from Airline Ambassadors and American Airlines.

"Nothing they do is fast enough. They are doing the best they can," said Algarroba.

When a body is identified, the procedure is to send a police officer to the family’s home. "For the first time in my life I am hoping for a police officer to knock on my door," Algarroba told the Tribune as he waited for word.

The Medical Examiner’s Office is using DNA to identify the victims. Family and friends were asked to bring DNA samples such as a hairbrush, a toothbrush, or even garments. But Algarroba had a tough time since his parents had sent everything they own to the Dominican Republic, since they were moving back there for good. Instead, a swab from inside Algarroba’s cheek was used as the DNA sample.

When the Javits Center opened to Flight 587 families, there were 100 tables set up for them. When the Center closed on Nov. 29, there were three tables with only Algarroba. The City has opened up a new center in Washington Heights, where many of the Dominican family’s reside, but without the entity that Algarroba needed most . . . the Medical Examiner’s Office.

Once the Javits Center office closed down, all Algarroba could do was wait at home. He couldn’t return to his job as a project supervisor for Crystal Air Conditioning because he felt he couldn’t give his company 100 percent. Much of his job involves driving. "I’m not working again until I lay my parents to rest," said Algarroba.

He tried to distract himself from his sorrow by making his parents proud and working on the HHS Foundation, which he founded.

HHS collects used baseball equipment from the New York metropolitan area and transports it to the Dominican Republic for the benefit of underprivileged kids who don’t mind playing with cracked helmets, used baseballs, etc. His parents were very much involved, and their latest project involved rebuilding a Dominican school that was destroyed by Hurricane George. Algarroba is continuing his efforts without his parents.

His father also told him "the best profession in life was to be a doctor because you can help people." Algarroba never became a doctor, but he does help a lot of kids through the foundation, named after his father, himself and his son- Hippolito, Hector, and Steven.

The foundation has donated equipment to 38 little leagues in the Dominican Republic where baseball is a game played on a year-long basis. During one of the presentation ceremonies for distribution of equipment, Algarroba’s father threw the opening pitch.

A project to rebuild a school would help to educate the 300 kids in the town of Los Conoco in Juan Dolio. HHS also provided vaccines to the entire town. These days, the children return to what remains of the school wearing their uniforms with pride.

Despite the tragedy of death, Algarroba and his father’s dream for the school is closer to fruition because of the crash. The crash paired Algarroba with an unusual employee of American Airlines. As American Airlines care teams were aiding grieving families, William Dise, a crew chief, heard about Algarroba’s foundation.

In addition to working for American Airlines, Dise works for Airline Ambassadors, a goodwill organization made of airline employees who travel the world for humanitarian projects. Dise has traveled to Haiti and other third world countries to work in different orphanages, distribute medical supplies and bring in nurses.

"I feel that we could help [Algarroba’s] father’s dream become a reality," said Dise. "I told [Hector Algarroba] that there’s always good that comes out of bad."

He is working with both American Airlines and Airlines Ambassadors to send out a team of workers and supplies to build the school in seven days. Though the project has not been finalized, it is scheduled for the end of January.

Algarroba and his siblings have decided that they will not sell their parents house in Santo Domingo, because it’s home and it is their bond with their native land. Instead, the house will become the headquarters for the HHS Foundation.

The foundation will honor those who perished on the flight and on the ground of Belle Harbor with a plaque of names that will be placed on the home.

For more information on HHS Foundation, log onto www.hhsfoundation.homestead.com or email hsanyc@aol.com.

In addition to focusing on the foundation to cope with his grief, Algarroba pointed to his wife sitting in the front of the bleachers at their son’s game. "Every man needs a strong woman," he said.

The last time Algarroba saw his mother was the morning of the ill-fated flight. His parents had already checked in and were waiting at the gate. Algarroba asked the airline to page his mother and she came back through security to see him. He gave her a kiss good-bye, and a second kiss which he figures was meant to be for his father. The last time he saw his father was when they watched a World Series game on TV.

Algarroba had just arrived home from the airport when he heard the news of the crash. He drove onto the Van Wyck Expressway following police vehicles to a Belle Harbor of burning houses. After Mayor Rudy Giuliani held a press conference that morning, he offered his condolences to Algarroba.

Though Algarroba couldn’t find answers to his parents’ death, he ventured out to the crash site to find solace. He and his son joined 4,000 mourners at a memorial at Belle Harbor on Nov. 18. On the side, Algarroba is a freelance photographer and ironically, on Oct. 13, he saw himself on the front cover of the Daily News holding his teary-eyed son.

On Dec. 1, Algarroba returned to the crash site to listen to the waves at Rockaway Beach. His father once told him, "Whenever you think you are big, you take a look at the ocean." He never thought too much about that statement until now.

Algarroba held a service just for his parents in Queens on Dec. 9. He flew their bodies back to Santo Domingo for a burial on the Dec. 11.

Hippolito and Ubencia’s legacy included three children — Hector and his sisters Maria and Milagros — eight grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. They had come from the Dominican Republic to bring a 10-year-old Hector Algarroba to Washington Heights.

Hippolito worked at the Waldorf Astoria, and Ubencia, according to Algarroba, was the "greatest cook in the world." She could lay any Dominican dish on the table.

The couple would have been married 54 years on Nov. 26. Algarroba said, "Not even death could bring them apart."

His parents moved to Providence, Rhode Island to be near their daughter, Maria, who has four kids. The tranquility of Providence, in some respects, reminded them of the Dominican Republic, Algarroba said.

Both suits asked for unspecified damages for the families.

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