September 11th- 13 Years Later

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Project 2996

The 13th Anniversary of September 11th is fast upon us, as I write this, it is a matter of hours away. As has become my personal tradition, this is a big day for me (and for much of the world as well). A lot of time has passed since that awful September 11th when the world changed. One thing that hasn't changed for me is that there were real people that died that day and families were torn apart. It is those families that I think of when I do things related to Project 2996.

I discovered Project 2996 when I was doing research of an article that I was writing about September 11th, and it has become a part of my life ever since.  Doing research on some of the victims brings them into your life and though you have you probably never met them the memories of their lives become part of you and as long as you live, these memories will live on.  It might not make any sense to someone who hasn't participated yet, but surely you have read something in your life or seen something (via television or possibly online) that has touched you.  If you haven't experienced this, you need to, because it is at moments like this that our humanity shines through.

For the 11th Anniversary, Project 2996 started a project of pinning pictures of all of the victims of September 11th into a Project 2996 group pinboard on Pinterest. The goal is to get a pin done for every single victim, with a tribute written up for them as well.  This year Project 2996 has added another campaign focusing on the Legacy of the victims. This too is being done via a group pinboard on Pinterest. This new group pinboard is called "Project 2996 Legacy"

Legacy: What Project 2996 Is Doing for the 13th Anniversary of September 11th from Darryl Heron

I July I ran across a book called "Just a Few Sleeps Away", by Mike Nichols, who tells the the story of a family of one of the victims and how they dealt with their loss. This got me thinking about the legacy that all of the victims have left. I noticed that there were streets and buildings named after victims as well as scholarships and charities that have been created.  There has been a lot done to create a legacy for the victims. This was the inspiration for the new group pinboard.

Dale and I have learned some lessons by being involved in Project 2996 and this has also influenced the decision to run this (and the other campaigns) for the entire year, not just a few days around the annual commemorations.  The original group pinboard has more have 500 pins and the new pinboard already is off to a good start with over 30 pins.

I don't know if you've done the #ALS #IceBucketChallenge (I have), I found it refreshing that some many people did it. I don't think that you get too much debate about it being one of the better known campaigns of all time. Organizations around the world are looking at that campaign to see what they did right and how they can use this for their purposes. I personally have enjoyed seeing who I knew would end up doing the challenge as well as what celebrities. You can join us in any of the Project 2996 campaigns, it won't tax your pocketbook, you won't get doused in icy cold water, you'll learn something about the victims and you'll have a whole different outlook on September 11th.

On this September day, I think about the people that I have written tributes in the past (Keith Roma, Christopher Santora,Joseph P. Henry, Karl Henri Joseph, and Dana Hannon). I especially think of David W Laychak, who was the first person that I've written about in Project 2996. I think about how honored I was to get a comment from Mrs. Laychak, to one of the tributes that I wrote.

I hope that you take some time out of your day to remember the victims of September 11th, their families, their friends, and the world as this day left all of us a little sadder and world a little less richer because of all these wonderful people we lost and the impact of society that they would have had and the lives that they did and would have touched.  You can follow the new Project 2996 Legacy  and the original Project 2996 boards on Pinterest and even join us if you'd like to do some pinning.  You can also write tributes of your own.  If you don't have a website or blog to post them on, I'd be happy to post them for you.  Feel free to leave a comment. If you knew any of the victims, I'd love to hear your memories and stories about them. 

Darryl

Here are my posts for the 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th Anniversaries  You can read more about the pinning campaign here.  The Project 2996 website is here, the Facebook group is here, and the original Project 2996 group pinboard is here.

September 11th - 12 Years Later

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Project 2996

Chances are that you probably know what day it is (or you'll soon be reminded if your day is just starting) but today is the twelth anniversary of Attacks of September 11th. A dozen years have passed and we're more than a decade after this terrible event.  On this day every year, I think of the victims, their families, their friends and I like to honor the memories that we all have of them. 

I discovered Project 2996 when I was doing research of an article that I was writing about September 11th, and it has become a part of my life ever since.  Doing research on some of the victims brings them into your life and though you have you probably never met them the memories of their lives become part of you and as long as you live, these memories will live on.  It might not make any sense to someone who hasn't participated yet, but surely you have read something in your life or seen something (via television or possibly online) that has touched you.  If you haven't experienced this, you need to because it is at moments like this that our humanity shines through.

Last year I talked Dale (the man responsible for Project 2996) into trying something a little bit different.  We were going to pin pictures of the victims of September 11th into a Project 2996 group pinboard on Pinterest.  The goal is to get a pin done for every single victim, with a tribute written up for them as well.  We haven't accomplished this yet but I'm really proud of the people who have joined us in the project.  I've done a couple of speeches about September 11th at Toastmasters and I convinced a friend of mine to join in on this little project, she did several pins last year and a few days ago she asked me if we were doing anything for the 12th Anniversary.  She said that she didn't have much time but she still managed to do a good dozen or so pins, so my she has a heart felt thank you from me. I'm confident that we will get a pin out for every victim!

This morning I did a dozen plus pins myself and have now learned a little bit more about Barbara Olson, Peter J. Ganci, Jr,, Army Specialist Craig Amundson, Ryan Daniel Fitzgerald, Anthony Joseph Coladonato, Andrew Cross Abate, David E. Rivers, Irina Buslo, Bojan Kostica, Gregory James Malone, Kathryn Anne Shatzoff, Peter J. O'Neill Jr., Faustino Apostol Jr, John G. Farrell, Margaret S. Lewis, Virginia M. Jablonski, and Stephanie McKenna. One of the new vicitms that I learned about had a tribute that had been written as part of Project 2996 and in reading the tribute I noticed that a family member had asked the writer if she knew the victim, but also came the comment that she was so glad to see the tribute. I received a comment from the wife of a victim that I wrote about and it touched me deeply to see this. 

On this September day, I think about the people that I have written tributes in the past (Keith Roma, Christopher Santora,Joseph P. Henry, Karl Henri Joseph, and Dana Hannon. I especially think of David W Laychak, who was the first person that I've written about in Project 2996.

I hope that you take some time out of your day to remember the victims of September 11th, their families, their friends, and the world as this day left all of us a little sadder and world a little less richer because of all these wonderful people we lost and the impact of society that they would have had and the lives that they did and would have touched.  You can follow the board on Pinterest and even join us if you'd like to do some pinning.  You can also write tributes of your own.  If you don't have a website or blog to post them on, I'd be happy to post them for you.  Feel free to leave a comment. If you knew any of the victims, I'd love to hear your memories and stories about them. 

Darryl

Here are my posts for the 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th and 11th Annivesaries.  You can read more about the pinning campaign here.  The Project 2996 website is here and the Facebook group is here.

September 11th- 11 Years Later

Source: project2996.wordpress.com via darryl on Pinterest

Today is the 11th Anniversary of September 11th.  I hope that you'll take a few moments to think about the 2996 victims, their families, friends, colleagues, and others that their lives have effected.  It is through my desire to honor the victims that I found (and lots of other people too) discovered Project 2996. I've been honored to kick off and participate in a special project with Project 2996 in honor of the 11th Anniversary.



Every year I try to do something a little different to honor the memory of September 11th.  This year I started a campaign to have all of the victims remembered via a photo and description appearing as a 'pin' in a group board at Pinterest. I've been doing a lot of things with Pinterest in the past few months and I thought that having a group board on Pinterest where others could 'pin' the victims would be a great way visual way for all of us to remember that all 2996 of the victims were people and not just some clincial statistic rattled off in the course of some vaguely related toppic. Below is a screenshot that I captured yesterday and posted in an article at the Project 2996 website that gives you a little taste of what the board looks like, but as the case with pictures, you just can't capture the totality of it.  It is definately something that you have to see for yourself.  You also need to take the time to scroll through all of the pins. 

Project 2996 is largely responsible for over 1700 online tributes to the victims of September 11th.  Many of the people that have participated, have blogs and write about a wide variety of topics and have a wide variety of interests and persnalities (much like the victims that we honor).  In many cases, if it weren't for Project 2996 we would not hang out in the same circles.  I really like being part of something bigger than myself and knowing that all of us together can do so much more together than we could all by ourselves.  There is certainly room for more people to join us as there are currently around 1300 victims still needing a 'real' tribute by a 'real' person.

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 David W Laychak is the first person that I wrote a tribute about, he was my first real dive into Project 2996.  I had the pleasure of having and email exchange with his sister and his wife wrote a nice comment after one of the tributes that I wrote for him.  Like so many other things in life, the first time we do it is something special.  Although I never met David or his family, somehow he is part of my life and not someone I will ever forget.  I'm really proud of the tribute that I wrote for David for the 7th Anniversary of September 11th.

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Keith Roma was the 2nd person that I found via Project 2996.  I decided that I wanted to expand my tributes and thought that I'd like to write about some of the firefighters.  Of the 5 people that I wrote about for the 8th Anniversary of September 11th, I spent the most time researching him. I was immediately drawn to him when I saw a picture of him with his daughter.  I discovered that there had been some controversy about including him in the list of the FDNY September 11th victims because although he was part of the the New York Fire Patrol, he was not "officially" part of the FDNY.  

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Christopher Santora was also part of the 5 firefighters that I wrote about for the 8th Anniversary of September 11th. I was drawn to him initially because of his age, at 23 he was one of the youngest firefighters to die.  He was a substitute teacher before following in his father's footsteps and becoming a firefighter. “P.S. Q222 - Fire Fighter Christopher A. Santora School” is named after him and was even attended by his nephew.

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Joseph P. Henry was also part of the 5 firefighters that I wrote about for the 8th Anniversary of September 11th. I was drawn to him after reading that a woman he had saved had promised to name her first born son after Joseph. He had only been with Ladder 21 eleven months before September 11th. “Firefighter Joseph Patrick Henry Lane” in Brooklyn is named after him. While doing research for Joseph, I discovered a nice tribute that had been done by Jen. 

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 Karl Henri Joseph was also part of the 5 firefighters that I wrote about for the 8th Anniversary of September 11th.  He was an EMT. Like so many other Americans, Karl and his family came to America from somewhere else, they came from Hati and although he loved Hati, America was his home. In doing my research fro Karl, I found a nice tribute from Tuxedo Cat Grandma. 

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Dana Hannon was also part of the 5 firefighters that I wrote about for the 8th Anniversary of September 11th. Dana started out as a volunteer firefighter, making his way to Captain before joining the FDNY.  He proposed to his then girlfriend on top of the Sidney Harbor Bridge.  While researching Dana, I found that Danielle at Stupid Trivia wrote A TRIBUTE TO DANA HANNON,


I feel that my life had been enriched by getting to know my 6 victims.  While there family and friends will never forget them, they have touched my and I can't help but feel that I'm a better person because of it. If you're family, friend of any of these wonderful people, I'd love to hear your memories, please leave a comment below.  I hope that you'll take some time to think about the victims of September 11th and that you'll check out the Project 2996 board at Pinterest.  Maybe you can join in and help us create a pin for all of the victims.  Maybe you write a tribute for one of the nearly 1700 people that we need tributes for.  

Darryl

11th Anniversary of September 11th Is Coming...

Hello Everyone! In case you didn't realize the 11th Anniversary of September 11th is now a little more than a week away.  I wanted to take the time to tell you about a few things that are going on and hope that many of you will join me.



I've been involved with Project 2996 for a few years now and I've been pretty busy working on something for the 11th Anniversary of September 11th.  Below is a presenation that I've put goether that tells you a little bit about Project 2996.

What is project 2996? from Darryl Heron</ a>

For the 11th Anniversary we've created a Project 2996 group board at Pinterest.  The idea is pretty simple, we want to have a pin with a picture for all of the September 11th victims.  The pin should also tie into the various Project 2996 online tributes that have been published over the years.  Below is a screenshot that I captured of the board yesterday...

Project 2996 has also started a campaign called "Calling All Teachers" with the idea of getting teachers to involve there students in learning about the victims of September 11th. If you're a teacher or you know a teacher why not have a look into this campaign?


What is needed?

After the last review of Project 2996 tributes, there were still around 1,300 victims without tritbutes.  Have a look at "the list" to see if there is somethere that you'd like to write a tribute about.

Signup at Pinterest (if you're not already a member there).

Let us know your user name (you can let us know at the Project 2996 website or our Facebook page or leave a comment on the board in Pinterest).

We really need people that will create 'pins'. You can have a look at the pins that are already posted to see how they should look (see here for more information on pins).

I've already created pins for most of the Pentagon victims and I've created several pins for the various passengers and crew of the different flights.  We'll really need pins for all of the victims at the World Trade Center.  If you'e already created a tribute, it would be great if would create a pin that links to your tribute(s).  If there is already a pin existing, why not add a comment with a link to your tribute?

You can also create your own boards for September 11th and 'Repin' what is in the Project 2996 group board.  This would really help a lot because it helps generate Traffic and Traffic is the name of the game in the internet today. Don't be shy in sharing what you're doing in your social circles.

Thank you to everyone in advance and I hope that we make this a very memorable 11th Anniversary.

Darryl

Photo credit: New York 2 courtesy of mistereels.

September 11th- 10 Years Later

September 11th 10 years later

View more presentations from Darryl Heron.

Ten years ago today the world as we know it changed. Sadly, we'll never be able to return to the workd as we knew it before that Tuesday morning. We won't be able to bring back the family and friend that dies that day. Sometimes it seems that it was only yesterday and at other times it seems that it was worlds away, in fact it was a different world that we lived then.

I decided that I wanted to do something different as part of my tribute for the Tenth Anniversary of September 11th, I decided to create and upload a presentation at Slideshare. While I've done many Powerpoint presentations over the years, this is the first time that I've done something like this, so I hope that it will be memorable and worth the effort that I put into it.

I hope that you'll have a look at some of the tributes posted at Project 2996. Project 2996 has the goal of seeing that an tribute is posted for each and every person lost that day, so it would be great if you decided to write about someone that doesn't have a tribute post about them yet. If you don't have a web site or blog to post it, then I'd be more than happy to post it for you on this blog here. Let me know in the comments below. I've really found the experience of being involved in Project 2996 has be truly worthwile and I can't recommend it enough.

As I mentioned in the preparation post that I wrote, I discovered Prepare New York a few months ago. They've done so many great things in the last few months. I was reading about Ribbons for Hope which is running from September 9-12 in Battery Park. If you're in the area I believe that should be worth checking out and participating in. Why not check out Prepare New York and see what you can learn and share with others?


Find more photos like this on Prepare New York


Yahoo! News has been running a special series on the Tenth Anniversary of September 11th.
While there will be tons of specials commemorating the Tenth Anniversay, this has been a nice portal to see all the stories about the families of victims or the way that peoples's lives were touched. It is worth checking out and finding all the gems that are there.

As we go about today, my thoughts are with the victims and their families and friends. I hope that we can use the Tenth Anniversary of September as a healing moment that brings us closer together. I'm also thinking of my mother how lost her battle to cancer at the same time that the World Trade Center was being attacked. I hope that all of you are able to celebrate this event in a way that is meaningful to you and that more brighter days are ahead.