REMEMBERING FLIGHT 93

On September 11, 2001, we made a promise never to forget.

Soon we will mark the 10th anniversary of that day. The Flight 93 National Memorial will be the only unit of the national park system dedicated to the events of 9/11, honoring the 40 brave souls on United Flight 93 that sacrificed themselves to save countless lives. Yet, amidst fully funded memorials at the Pentagon and in New York, Flight 93 remains unfunded and incomplete.

On September 10th we will dedicate the completed elements of the memorial, a newly-constructed memorial plaza featuring a wall inscribed with the names of the passengers and crew. However, our work will not be done, our promise not complete. Important features including a visitor center, educational exhibits, and the 40 memorial groves of trees will remain undone until we finish our fundraising goal.  

My invitation to you – come join us on September 10th and 11th in Shanksville, PA and see firsthand what this place means. Stand next to the sacred ground with visitors, friends and family members and relive that promise we made 10 years ago. If you do, you will be changed forever.  

In return, I will make a promise to you. Support us in our fundraising effort, and the National Park Foundation board of directors will match your donation dollar for dollar, up to $2million. Help now. Your gift will ensure that on this important day, our heroes will be remembered, our memorial will be complete, and our promise will be kept.

Neil Mulholland
President and CEO

You are the part-owner of 84 million acres of the world’s most treasured landscapes, ecosystems, and historical sites — all protected in America’s nearly 400 national parks. Founded by Congress, the National Park Foundation is the official charity of America’s national parks. We work hand in hand with the National Park Service to help connect you and all Americans to the parks, and to make sure that they are preserved for the generations who will follow.

Join us — This Is Your Land. www.nationalparks.org

Flight 93 National Memorial Needs Your Support

The Flight 93 National Memorial will be dedicated on September 10, culminating nearly ten years of effort to preserve and protect the Sacred Ground -- the final resting place of the passengers and crew. But the memorial is still not fully constructed and more funding is needed to complete the remaining features of the design.

To help achieve this goal, the National Park Foundation has issued a major new challenge grant. Now through the end of the year, for every dollar that you contribute to the Flight 93 National Memorial, the Foundation will match your gift dollar-for-dollar up to $2,000,000. Where else can you find a 100 percent return on your charitable investment?

Your gift will help fund features that are vital to the memorial's design. These include the entry portal, flight path and overlook, showing Flight 93's trajectory in its final moments. A new visitor center will include exhibits and public programming, as well as offer welcome and greeting to a quarter-million visitors each year. Forty memorial groves, each symbolically containing 40 individual trees, will encircle a field of honor.

To make a donation click here, or call 202-354-6488 and ask to "double my donation." For sponsorship and corporate support opportunities, call 202-354-6487.

On September 10, 2011 at 12:30 p.m. EST, almost ten years after the September 11 terrorist attacks, the Flight 93 National Memorial will be dedicated. The Memorial Plaza and Field of Honor will be the first features of the memorial to be completed for dedication, and will be permanently open to the public after the September 10 ceremony. Grammy-award winning singer-songwriter Sarah McLachlan will perform at the dedication ceremony and Vice President Biden will preside over the event which will also welcome dignitaries, special guests, and Flight 93 family members and friends.  A complete list of speakers and performers will be announced shortly. Those in attendance at the ceremony will include government officials, special guests, musical performers, and Flight 93 family members and friends.  The National Park Foundation has partnered with HISTORYchannel to webcast the dedication ceremony LIVE.  If you cannot be in Shanksville for this historic moment, tune in to honorflight93.org to watch coverage beginning at 12:30 p.m. ET/9:30 a.m. PT.

The 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks will be observed at the Flight 93 National Memorial on the morning of September 11, 2011, beginning at approximately 9:30 a.m. The memorial service will take place at the newly-opened memorial plaza. The commemorative service will include remarks by a representative of the Families of Flight 93, laying of wreaths, and will culminate in the reading of the names of the 40 passengers and crew on board Flight 93 at 10:03 a.m., the time the plane crashed on September 11, 2001.

Both the dedication and anniversary ceremonies are open to the public.  For complete information about these events visit honorflight93.org .

Every day the American flag is proudly unfurled over the Flight 93 National Memorial as a testament to our country and to the men and women who bravely defended it on September 11. Now the National Park Foundation is providing patrons an opportunity to show their patriotism with a flag that has been flown over the Memorial. A limited number of these flags are available for a minimum donation of $93 plus shipping and handling. Each flag comes with a certificate of authenticity. For more information, e-mail flight93memorial@nationalparks.org or call 202-354-6488

Last summer, visitors began to see the first live images of construction of the Flight 93 National Memorial on honorflight93.org thanks to a partnership with EarthCam, Inc.  One year and some 15,000 documented images later, website visitors can now view a special time-lapse video clip of the memorial showing the progress that has been made on construction.

For the third year in a row, Steven Singer Jewelers is offering the “9/11 Never Forget” pin. Proceeds from the sale of the pins benefit the Memorial. To-date, Mr. Singer has sold over 20,000 pins and donated over $230,000 to the Campaign.  The pins are available for $10 each through the Steven Singer Jewelers website.

The Manufacturer & Business Association, creator of the Roar on the Shore® Bike Rally, is sponsoring the “Let’s Roll Flight 93 Memorial Ride”, taking place September 10-11, 2011. Gov. Tom Ridge, a Flight 93 National Memorial Campaign Honorary Co-Chairman, will serve as honorary grand marshal of the ride, which is made up of “flights” of 40 motorcyclists each who will travel together to the Memorial on September 11.  Proceeds from the ride will be donated to the Campaign.

In addition to the “Let’s Roll Flight 93 Memorial Ride”, the 2011 Roar on the Shore® Bike Rally, held in July in Erie, PA, raised an additional $50,000 for the Campaign.

For more information, visit www.letsrollride.com or call Tracie Black, project coordinator, at 800-815-2660.

Ten years after the September 11 attacks, several new books look back on Flight 93, a tribute to the heroic action of the passengers and crew, and focus on the change of a simple field into the Flight 93 National Memorial.  Proceeds from the sale of each book support building the Flight 93 National Memorial.

Heroes Were Made includes stories and photographs from nearly ten years of coverage by the Tribune-Democrat of Flight 93 and efforts to design and build a permanent memorial near Shanksville.  The book can be ordered at www.heoresweremade.com or by calling
866-307-0905.

An Uncommon Field by Richard Snodgrass and published by Carnegie Mellon University Press is a photo essay of Flight 93 that chronicles the development of the Flight 93 National Memorial through stirring images of the natural landscape that surrounds the memorial and the thousands of tributes that have been left.  To order, go to amazon.com.

Field of Honor: How Flight 93 Inspired A Nation examines how the events of September 11 changed the nation through photography, eye-witness accounts, and interviews with family and rescuers, collected and edited by the staff of the Pittsburgh Tribune–Review. To order go to store.triblive.com.

A bronze coin has been produced to commemorate the dedication of the Flight 93 National Memorial and in recognition of ten years since the terrorist attacks of September 11.   A portion of the proceeds from the sale of the coin will benefit construction of the memorial.

Matthews International of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania designed and produced the coin measuring two inches in diameter.  One side of the coin shows an artist’s depiction of the newly-constructed memorial plaza and Wall of Names; the reverse shows “93” surrounded by stars and the dates “2001 – 2011.”

This limited edition coin will only be available for purchase on site at the Flight 93 National Memorial on September 10-11.  There are no phone or on-line sales of the coin.  Each coin is expected to retail for $20.

Proceeds from the sale of a genetic one-of-a-kind hybridized rose will benefit construction of the Flight 93 National Memorial. “The 9/11 Flight 93 Rose” is a dark red hybrid tea rose with a white stripe on the inside petals and is named and registered with the American Rose Society/International Cultivar Registration Authority for Roses. The rose is available for purchase for between $17.00 and $30.00 depending on size. Five dollars from the sale of each rose bush, which is already included in the price, will be donated to the Campaign and will fund landscaping and beautification initiatives as part of the memorial’s design.

For more information or to purchase the 9/11 Flight 93 Rose, go to honorflight93.org/rose.