Special Pre-9/11 Dinner, Memorial Ceremony & Luncheon on the 21st Anniversary

It is unthinkable that 21 years have gone by, yet it seems like yesterday for our 9/11 members. This year was a very special year since 2 days before the anniversary many of our Strength to Strength members were in New York City for the Global Victims Congress at the United Nations. Our pre-9/11 dinner was even more meaningful with participants in attendance from Algeria, Australia, France, Indonesia, Israel, Jordan, United Kingdom joined our 9/11 members as well as members from attacks in Oklahoma City, Israel and Uganda. It was incredible to have such tremendous support which is key especially around anniversaries.

The evening before the 9/11 anniversary was meaningful in that we were able to connect, share and heal together after many had attended last day of events of the Congress at the United Nations. Watching around the room you would think that old friends were meeting and catching up but after dinner we all gathered and every person introduced themselves and shared a few sentences about their experiences. While many had just met, the strong connection between everyone was clear.

The next morning a group of us met very early at George’s before walking together to the 9/11 Memorial Ceremony. As everyone gathered on the memorial plaza, the ceremony began after 8:46am which was the moment where the first tower, the North Tower, was hit by Flight 11. Moments of silence take place during the ceremony in between the reading of the names. The chiming of bells 6 times - one for each hijacking and two for the collapses of the towers. Together, we listened for hours to the names that were read aloud and once again paid tribute to the victims.

After the ceremony, Strength to Strength hosted a lunch downtown at The Malt House to reconnect. It was a beautiful afternoon with some of our partners, Travis Frain, survivor of the Westminster terrorist attack in London on March 22, 2017 and Founder of The Resilience in Unity Project and Cath Hill, Founder of the Manchester Survivors Choir with 8 young choir participants, all survivors of the Manchester Arena Bombing on May 22, 2017. After lunch those that were interested visited the Observatory to see the view of New York City and in the evening we all met back at the memorial to witness the Tribute Lights and pay respect to those lives lost. 

Special thank you to The Malt House for taking such good care of us and for a beautiful afternoon lunch.