Memorials will pay tribute to those who died
Sept. 11, 2001: We remember

As the nation and the world pause to remember those killed in the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, plans to pay tribute to these men and women continue to move forward. While the planned memorials can never replace the friends, co-workers and loved ones lost that day, they will serve both as a fitting tribute to the fallen heroes and as a reminder of the dedication of those Americans who stepped forward to take part in the recovery and rebuilding that have taken place since then.

In New York City, the centerpiece of the economic and cultural rebirth of the World Trade Center site is a memorial that will honor those who died in the attack on the World Trade Center, as well as those who perished at the Pentagon and in Shanksville, Pa. The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation received 5,200 proposals from individuals and groups for the design of the memorial, which is to be built on the 4.7-acre site where the center's twin towers stood. Finalists in the WTC design competition are expected to be chosen this month.

Exterior reconstruction of the section of the Pentagon damaged on Sept. 11, 2001, was completed in June 2002. The final stone placed in the near perfect replication of the military headquarters' stately 1940s facade has "September 11, 2001" carved into it. Those who died at the Pentagon are to be honored with a tree-shaded, two-acre memorial featuring 184 illuminated benches--one for each victim--erected not far from where the hijacked jetliner struck the building.

On this second anniversary of Sept. 11, 2001, the AFT joins with others throughout the world in paying tribute to the 3,000 men and women who lost their lives on that horrible day. Hundreds of unionists, including 45 members of the AFT, were among those killed.

Unions' 9-11 fund assists families

Soon after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the AFT and the NEA, acting in the spirit of the NEAFT Partnership, established the NEAFT September 11 Fund to provide assistance to the children and other family members of the victims. The fund is designed to help these families in various ways, including assistance in paying for college.

Contributions to the fund have totaled more than $800,000, which comprises the combined monies contributed by AFT and NEA and their members and affiliates. The NEAFT fund has now disbursed more than 90 percent of the funds to the families of members who died as a result of the attacks and to members of AFT and NEA who lost immediate family members.

Approximately 230 families each have received nearly $3,000 from the NEAFT September 11 Fund.

"The financial assistance provided has been of immeasurable value to recipients and to their sense of being part of a larger and compassionate family," says AFT vice president Herb Magidson, who co-chairs the fund.

Contributions sent to the AFT Recovery Fund, which has since been incorporated into the NEAFT September 11 Fund, were used to provide immediate assistance to the families of the AFT members killed at the World Trade Center and those in the plane that crashed into the Pentagon. Some of the funds were also used to lease five photocopiers requested by teachers at several New York City schools, which had been damaged in the attacks and whose staff and students subsequently were relocated to other schools.

The NEAFT fund's administrators are working with the Washington Teachers Union to create a living memorial in the schools of the three teachers and three students from Washington, D.C., who perished in the crash at the Pentagon.

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