Several nonprofit groups joined with the Obama administration today to announce they are planning a major event in New York to mark the first time September 11, the anniversary of the 2001 terrorist attacks, will be a federally designated National Day of Service and Remembrance.
The organizers, who described the event at a news conference in New York, said it will pay tribute to victims of the attacks as well as honor people who have participated in the United We Serve summer-volunteer program started by President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama.
They have invited New York Gov. David A. Paterson and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg to speak and have lined up participants including Gary Sinise, an actor and film director, Jimmy Fallon, the late-night talk-show host; and musical performers including Anjulie, Gavin DeGraw, the Harlem Boys and Girls Choir, and the Roots.
The activities—which will take place on September 11 at the Beacon Theatre—are sponsored by MyGoodDeed, a charity that promotes volunteerism to commemorate the 2001 attacks; the National September 11 Memorial & Museum; ServiceNation, a coalition of groups promoting national service and volunteering; and the Corporation for National and Community Service, the federal national-service agency.
MyGoodDeed also unveiled a new Web site that provides space for individuals and groups to post the good deeds or volunteer activities they plan to perform on September 11.
The Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, signed into law last spring, establishes September 11 as a National Day of Service and Remembrance.
“The anniversary of 9/11 is always a very personal day of sadness and reflection for me and my family,” Jay S. Winuk, co-founder of MyGoodDeed—whose brother died in the collapse of the World Trade Center South Tower—said in a statement. “But it can also be a day when the nation comes together to embrace once more the spirit of compassion” that followed the attacks.”
Tickets for the September 11 event will be awarded to the general public by lottery. Information is available on the MyGoodDeed Web site.
(Read an article from The Chronicle’s archive about the formation of MyGoodDeed.)
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