Paul “Paulie” Veneto has pushed an airline beverage cart a total of 750 miles in four years. Every year, the cart is pushed to one of the multiple sites from 9/11 to honor members of those flights that day in 2001, the people Veneto calls the “first first responders.”

In 2021, Veneto traveled from Logan International Airport, in Boston to Ground Zero in Manhattan in honor of United Flight 175. In an effort called Paulie’s Push, each year since Veneto has made journeys honoring flights American 77, United 93 and American 11.

On Nov. 11, Veneto made his way to Quinnipiac University during the Bobcats men’s and women’s basketball matchups to spread the word about his cause.

For Veneto, his first push in 2021 to honor United 175 was personal; it served to honor men and women that he knew personally.

“I was a flight attendant with United and I landed at 8 o’clock the night before,” Veneto said. “I knew the crew that got on the plane for 175 the next morning, the ones that hit the second tower.”

Veneto started the push as a way to honor those who seemed to be almost forgotten, the brave men and women on board the four hijacked airplanes.

“In my eyes from what I was feeling and what a lot of us crew members were feeling for years was that nobody was recognizing the heroics of these fight crew members,” Veneto said. “They weren’t trained to fight terrorism, they just weren’t. I knew I had to do something, but I knew I had to do something that would draw national attention. I had no idea how to do it.”

After the first anniversary of 9/11, Veneto was standing at a gallery for one of the flights he was working and spotted out of the corner of his eye a beverage cart. And that’s when it clicked.

“I didn’t know how I was going to do it,” Veneto said. “Or what I was going to do, if I was able to do it, but I knew that was the key to it.”

Nineteen years later, on the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, he was ready. When Veneto first started training, people thought he was homeless, collecting cans, but it was starting to draw attention and nothing would deter Veneto from his cause.

Many have questioned Paulie as to why he doesn’t modify his cart. “Air tires will make it easier,” they tell him, but Veneto has no interest in lightening his workload.

“(The flight members) didn’t have those options that morning,” Veneto said. “So I’m not going to try to make this thing easier because they weren’t able to make it easier.”

Veneto has made many pushes, but the push he made to Quinnipiac was not planned.  In fact, it happened by pure chance.

Veneto was invited to join Northeast Card Expo, a popular event in which card collectors unite to buy, sell and marvel at their favorite collectibles. There, Veneto just so happened to run into Quinnipiac Assistant Athletic Director John Opie, who invited him to come to M&T Bank Arena.

“(I) have always thought he had a great purpose,” Opie wrote in a statement to The Chronicle. “His mission is a living Salute to Service, reminding us of the courage, sacrifice and quiet heroism that continues today..”

“It was awesome,” Veneto said. “I was so grateful for the opportunity, because every little thing helps.”

Veneto has hours of stories about the connections he’s made across his journey. People who had family members on the flights, or even just communities coming together to support a good cause.

It’s an unexpected outcome for Paulie, but one he embraces with open arms. On one of Veneto’s journeys, a man asked him for a picture. Afterwards, the man told Veneto that he was standing next to his neighbor while waiting for him The neighbors had not spoken to each other for five years, but they were chatting for an hour waiting to see Veneto.

“I’ll never forget that moment,” Veneto said. “Because that was when I realized what was happening, that people were talking to each other. People were coming together.”

Next year, on the 25th anniversary of 9/11, Veneto will be embarking on a journey that he invites everyone to join. As Veneto passes through different towns, any person will have the opportunity to push the cart.

“It’s everybody’s push,” Veneto said. “I’ve only focused on the flight crew members of the first, first responders, but now that I completed that, it’s time to include everybody.”

Veneto gives all the credit to the people who have helped him along the way.

“I really, truly am just a guy who pushed a cart,” Veneto said. “That’s all it is. I just push the cart. And everybody else does the work to make it happen.”