On Monday, February 14, 2011, we will officially close our Friends Memorial Facebook account and will move to the new National September 11 Memorial & Museum page. We value the Friends Memorial community and the comments, questions and feedback we receive on a daily basis. Let’s continue the conversation at the new page.

 Please "Like" the new page at:

National September 11 Memorial and Museum

The National September 11 Memorial & Museum Page promises to:

1)    Keep you informed about the 9/11 Memorial opening on the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

2)    Answer your important questions about visiting the Memorial when it opens, the 9/11 Memorial Preview Site in lower Manhattan, and the Museum in 2012.

3)    Connect you with our Twitter tweets and MEMO blog posts all from one page.

4)    Share photos and video of our progress from every vantage point, so you can witness history in the making. 

5)    Invite you to special events and programming, and share new materials with you. Educating the world about 9/11 and its impact on history is core to our organizational mission.

By 9/11 Memorial Staff

"The Daily Show" host John Stewart was appointed today to the National September 11 Memorial & Museum's board of directors.  Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who's chairman of the board, introduced Stewart to the now 48-member board during its quarterly meeting. Stewart thank the mayor, the board and said he would do whatever he could do to help.  

As host of the Emmy-award winning “The Daily Show” on Comedy Central, Stewart, a lower Manhattan resident, has long been a voice on 9/11-related matters.

Update: “Luckily for me, it appears as if they’ve done 95 percent of the hard labor on this. So I’m hoping to help in any way I can offer,” Stewart said in a New York Times article.  

Read more about Jon Stewart's appointment to the board in a web-exclusive by DNAinfo.com's Julie Shapiro.

In early September 2010, Bloomberg hosted Stewart at the memorial and museum’s annual benefit dinner in lower Manhattan, where Stewart served as master of ceremonies.

Days after the 2001 attacks, Stewart had a memorable TV moment, mixing measured whit with emotional commentary in the opening of his show.  In recent months, he gained national attention and praise for his passionate work in dedicating a broadcast to the 9/11 health bill, which President Obama signed into law earlier this month.    

Stewart began hosting “The Daily Show” in 1999.  Since his arrival, the satire news show has received 36 Emmy Award nominations and won 14 times. Stewart, who is executive producer and writer as well as host, received five Emmy nominations from 2002 to 2008. The show was honored in 2004 by the Television Critics Association by winning Outstanding Achievement in News and Information, edging out traditional news shows in the category.

Stewart joins a board with members who have a life in media and entertainment, including Robert De Niro, Billy Crystal and Jane Rosenthal. The board of directors include victims’ family members, 9/11 survivors, business pioneers and leading philanthropists.

By Michael Frazier, Sr. Communications Manager for the 9/11 Memorial

Rachel McPherson is the founder and executive director of the Good Dog Foundation, a New York City-based pet therapy organization. Rachel trains therapy dogs and brings them to patients in need. Cancer survivors and the elderly have all benefited from the pets who aid in the healing process. But after 9/11, the caring canines would play a role in consoling people emotionally burdened by the events of the attacks.

 After Sept. 11, the Good Dog Foundation worked with community members and distraught family members at the Pier 94 Family Assistance Center. Fidel, the small Papillon, made an impact on patrons at the assistance center and on family members who returned to the site. Listen to Rachel talk about the role therapy dogs played on the days after 9/11. Also, take a look at Rachel's book, Every Dog Has a Gift.  Dogs are more than just man's best friend.

By 9/11 Memorial Staff

Of the items that remained from the wreckage of the World Trade Center, identification cards of personel were some of the most prevalent.  Salvaged by recovery workers and forensic experts from the Fresh Kills landfill, a recovered ID badge was often the only evidence that someone had been in the WTC complex on Sept. 11. Authorities went to great lengths to return IDs to victims’ families and survivors.

Some who hastily evacuated the towers on 9/11 left their photo ID badges behind. Christopher Briggs Young, a temporary employee for Marsh & McLennan Insurance Company and one of the last to escape the North Tower before its collapse, retained the visitor pass that was issued at 8:30 a.m. on the morning of Sept. 11. Young was on his way to deliver a box of meeting materials to the 99th floor when he was trapped, alone, in an express elevator.  After a half an hour, the collapse of the South Tower triggered a power failure that disabled the motor keeping the elevator doors sealed. Young extricated himself from the elevator and escaped from the building, running as the North Tower crumbled behind him. Learn more about other stories online.

The National September 11 Memorial & Museum is interested in acquiring World Trade Center ID badges and learning the individual stories associated with each. Please contact collections@sept11mm.org if you wish to donate one to the permanent collection.

By Jan Ramirez, Chief Curator for the 9/11 Memorial Museum

Sometimes, you just need to get out the office to get the job done. That was the case for 9/11 Memorial Museum staff members Amy Weinstein, Jenny Pachuki and Ryan Pawling, who traveled  to Florida for a "workation."

Tasked to interview residents of Palm Beach Gardens, many of whom were responders and family members of victims of to the Sept. 11 attacks, our dedicated crew made a point to get a better understanding of the family members lost on that fateful day.

"We want people to tell us what the person was like. Did they coach little league? What color were their eyes?" Amy Weisntein tells a reporter from The Palm Beach Post.

Members of the community were encouraged to sign up and interview at the Palm Beach Gardens City Hall from Dec. 4 to Dec. 5. Many made reservations and brought photographs to tell a more complete story of their lost loved one.

All are invited to help participate in the creation of exhibitions by sharing memories, objects, photos and other materials with the museum. Donate through our website or contact the Memorial and Museum by phone, 212 312 8800.

By Norm Dannen,  Public Affairs Associate

The "9/11, Today and Tomorrow" speaker series has returned  for another installment at the 9/11 Memorial Preview Site, 20 Vesey St. (Between Church Street and Broadway).

Join Jay Winuk of MyGoodDeed, Bill Keegan of H.E.A.R.T. 911, and a member of the New York Says Thank You Foundation for a discussion covering how volunteerism in the U.S. increased  after 9/11 and inspired President Obama to declare Sept. 11 a National Day of Service. The three organizations and their leaders have met the challenge of service, response and relief, and crisis counseling across the country and the globe.

Come hear their stories:

6:30 p.m., Wed., Dec. 8

Due to limited space, it’s highly recommended that you RSVP online at national911memorial.org/rsvp. A suggested donation of $10 per person will help support ongoing programming.

Norm Dannen, Public Affairs Associate

Thanks to everyone who continues to cast a vote each week for the 9/11 Memorial to win funding from Members Project! Your votes make a huge difference. 

We're leading in the “Arts & Culture” category, but the race is very close.  The $200,000 in funding would be a tremendous help in building the National September 11 Memorial & Museum at the World Trade Center.

Cast your vote now, and make sure to spread the word to your family and friends about the 9/11 Memorial’s opportunity to secure funding through Members Project. You and your friends can also vote on Facebook and Twitter.

By 9/11 Memorial Staff

The 9/11 Memorial Museum's Memorial Exhibition will commemorate the lives of the people killed on September 11, 2001, and February 26, 1993, allowing visitors to know more about the women, men and children, who perished in those attacks. Plans for the museum allows visitors to enter the exhibition along a corridor in which portrait photographs of the nearly 3,000 victims form a "Wall of Faces" that is intended to try and communicate the scale of human loss.

As part of the exhibition, interactive tables are planned that will allow visitors to discover more information about each person, including additional photographs, remembrances by family and friends and artifacts. An adjoining space will present profiles of individual victims in a dignified sequence through photographs, biographical information, and audio recordings. Every victim's name will be read aloud within the memorial exhibition. These spoken names will be professionally recorded by a group of volunteer family members. If you are interested in contributing your time and voice to this group, please contact us.

The memorial exhibition relies on materials contributed by you. Learn more here.

By 9/11 Memorial Staff

If you squint, you can make out 9/11 Memorial President Joe Daniels (left) in the jumbotron above New York Yankee Stadium in the Bronx.  Joe, who's a big Yankee fan, is standing next to Chuck Imhof, the vice president of New York sales for Delta. The airline is one of more than 170,000 individual contributors from across the United States and 35 countries that have donated to the National September 11 Memorial & Museum.  

 By 9/11 Memorial Staff