This is a vinyl banner called “Heroes of Ground Zero” that I designed to honor and encourage those who worked tirelessly in Ground Zero. The art was created overnight, a week after 9/11/01. This banner traveled with my brother and is signed by a multitude of NYPD, FDNY, and Port Authority Officers, as well as construction workers and volunteers in Ground Zero during the weeks and months following 9/11.

My brother, a former sheriff's deputy, Baptist Minister, and law enforcement chaplain at the time, traveled to NYC days after 9/11/01  to minister and comfort first responders. Because of the overwhelming response to the artwork, we created a mission to hand-deliver a banner to every Police Station, Firehouse, and Port Authority office that lost personnel in the Sept. 11 attacks. We achieved that mission by returning nearly every weekend to NYC to deliver banners that were sponsored by local individuals and businesses in our hometown of Bloomington, IL.

The NYC Responders and workers, wanting to give back, began to sign this banner so my brother could take it back to Illinois, and allow people there an opportunity to pray for them by name. I'm attaching the artwork and the story. We have hundreds of photos documenting our endeavor that I'd be happy to share as well.