June 27, 2008

Dear Families and Friends,

This week part of our team traveled to Tampa, Florida to host VOICES 9/11 Living Memorial workshops. During our visit we met with 9/11 family members along with firefighters and rescue workers who, following 9/11, traveled from Florida to New York to help the New York City firefighters.  We also visited several local memorials created in memory of those who perished as well as the brave first responders.    
 
Once again, those attending shared heartwarming stories about their loved ones and firsthand accounts as responders.  They were excited about the opportunity to gather together and learn more about the 9/11 Living Memorial project.  Their resiliency is inspirational and we are grateful for their participation.  Our special thanks to family member Sally Trant, the Tampa Bay chapter of the American Red Cross and Kimm Armitage, from the City of Safety Harbor, who are now officially part of our VOICES national 9/11 community.  
 
Over the past several weeks we have received important announcements from 9/11 related groups about upcoming events.  In an effort to keep our membership updated, we will highlight memorial foundation events, summer camps and other fundraising events in our calendar and upcoming newsletters.  If you have an event scheduled please forward the information to events@voicesofsept11.org. Over next several months we will be making exciting changes to our VOICES website.  Our new Calendar of Events is part of the VOICES website evolution.  

Our office will be closed next Friday in observance of the July 4 holiday. We hope you have a wonderful and safe holiday weekend,

Warm Regards,

Mary and the Voices Staff

VOICES Programs and events

9/11 Living Memorial Workshops

The VOICES team is on the road again, with upcoming workshops in New Jersey and northern Connecticut. We are planning more workshops, so watch this newsletter or our website for updated information.

New Brunswick, NJ

Date: Monday, July 14
Time: 1:00pm to 6:00pm by Appointment
Location: New Brunswick Development Corporation

120 Albany Street

Tower 1, 7th Floor

New Brunswick, NJ 08901

Wethersfield, CT

Date: Monday, July 21
Time: 1:00pm to 6:00pm by Appointment
Location: Wethersfield Public Library
515 Silas Deane Highway
Wethersfield, CT 06109

9/11 living memorial Feature

Pentagon Memorial Nears Completion

This week’s Living Memorial feature is one of our periodic updates on the Pentagon Memorial, which will be the first of the three national memorials to be completed at the sites where the planes crashed on 9/11. The $32 million privately funded Pentagon Memorial is being built, at the request of the relatives of the 184 victims who died there, in view of the exact site where the American Airlines Flight 77 hit the building.

The memorial, which is now nearing completion, will be dedicated on September 11, 2008 and will open to the public the following day. The design features 184 curving bench like memorials over light-filled reflecting pools, commemorating the 125 fallen Pentagon Workers and the 59 victims on the plane. The site will be accessible to the public 24 hours a day.

Victims’ families have been visiting the site to see the benches being made. The Washington Post reports that there were emotional scenes as the last two memorials – to the two youngest victims, were formed from molten metal. Zoe (8) and Dana (3) Falkenberg were going to Australia with their parents for a family vacation on Flight 77. 

Permanent memorials in Lower Manhattan and Shanksville, Pa., are several years from completion, so security officials are bracing for 1 million to 2 million visitors a year to the Pentagon site. The Washington Post has produced a series of articles on the building of the Pentagon Memorial and there is also information on the Pentagon Memorial Fund website.

INFORMATION FOR THE 9/11 COMMUNITY

Rescue and Recovery Workers Urged to Register with NY Workers' Compensation Board Before August 14, 2008
The New York State Workers Compensation Board is calling on all of those who participated in the rescue, recovery and clean-up of the World Trade Center through September 12, 2002 to register their service in order to preserve rights to future benefits if they should need them. The Board is reaching out to all rescue and recovery workers, whether they were injured or not, or whether they were employed or volunteered. This includes duty at Ground Zero, Fresh Kills Landfill, the barges, the piers, and the morgues. Visit the NY State Workers' Compensation Board website or call 1-877-WTC12-08.

Military Trials at Guantanamo to Go Ahead Despite Supreme Court Ruling
US Attorney General Michael Mukasey has confirmed that the hearings before military tribunals in Guantanamo will continue despite the Supreme Court's ruling on habeas corpus. Mr. Mukasey said he was disappointed with the court's decision to allow foreign suspects to challenge their detention in civilian courts. He said he understood that it will "result in hundreds of actions challenging the detention of enemy combatants to be moved to federal district court." He said the court's decision did not concern military commission trials, which would go ahead. President Bush has said he would abide by the ruling even though he did not agree with it. Visit the Voices website for more information on this story.

Events for the 9/11 community

7th Annual Mark Bavis Leadership Foundation Celebrity Event
Join a host of NHL greats, celebrities, and Boston University Alumni along with the Bavis Family for a fun day of golf, food, prizes and more!

Date: July 14, 2008

Location: Country Club at New Seabury Mashpee, MA

For Tickets call:

Merilyn Sullivan,

(888) 449-GOLF,

msullivan04@comcast.net

Click here for more information.