Boys & Girls Club Remembering 911 Video
Boys & Girls Club Remembers 911
Twenty-five years after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, young people who were not yet born when the attacks occurred took a leading role Friday in ensuring the events — and the lessons that followed — are not forgotten.
The Boys & Girls Clubs of the Albemarle held its 9/11 Memorial Program at the historic D.F. Walker School in Edenton, bringing together club members, families, volunteers and community leaders for an afternoon of remembrance, reflection and service.
Club members participated throughout the ceremony, which included an opening prayer by Melvin Tatem, a welcome by Joshua Williams, the Pledge of Allegiance led by the John A. Holmes High School JROTC, musical and dance selections, and a timeline of the events of September 11 presented by Boys & Girls Club students.
Riley Sikes, Lashawn Wilson, Gage Sullivan, Brycen Squires, Joshua Williams and Troquan Moore participated in the student timeline presentation. Sydney Lassiter presented a 9/11 tribute, while Lacey White led a questionnaire about the attacks.
A moment of silence honored the nearly 3,000 people who died in the attacks.
Guest speaker George E. Lewis III, chairman of the Edenton-Chowan Board of Education, directed much of his message toward the young people in attendance.
Lewis told them that those old enough to remember September 11 have a responsibility to tell its story to generations who did not experience it.
But rather than focus solely on the horror of September 11, Lewis asked his audience to remember what happened afterward.
“America remembered how to be neighbors,” Lewis said.
He recalled how communities responded in the days and weeks following the attacks: neighbors checked on neighbors, churches opened their doors, people lined up to donate blood and first responders traveled across the country to help.
Lewis made the enormous loss of September 11 personal by telling the story of his friend Mark Whitford.
The two became friends as young Army officers in 1994. Whitford, a husband and father of twin boys, eventually pursued his dream of becoming a New York City firefighter.
Lewis recalled his friend with humor, telling the young audience about once convincing Whitford at a Japanese restaurant that a large mound of wasabi was an after-dinner mint. Whitford ate the entire thing.
But Lewis then explained why Whitford's story has remained with him for 25 years.
On September 11, Whitford entered the South Tower of the World Trade Center to help people he had never met.
“He knew only one thing: They needed help,” Lewis said. “And Mark helped.”
Whitford was 31 when the South Tower collapsed at 9:59 a.m.
Lewis used his friend's sacrifice to challenge those gathered not simply to remember September 11, but to turn remembrance into service.
“Remembrance tells us to look backward,” he said. “Service tells us to carry what we remember forward.”
That service, Lewis suggested, does not have to involve extraordinary acts. It can begin by sitting with someone who normally sits alone, talking with someone outside one's usual circle, helping a neighbor or welcoming someone new.
He also challenged adults to recognize the example they set for children, particularly in a time of division.
“Our children learn unity by watching us,” Lewis said, urging people to remember that disagreement does not have to make neighbors enemies.
Lewis closed by returning to the biblical words from Isaiah that he said have reminded him of Whitford for the past quarter-century: “Here am I. Send me.”
