New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who serves as the board chair of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, delivered the following remarks on the steps of the U.S. Capitol yesterday as part of a September 11th Remembrance Ceremony:

"Remember, reflect, rebuild. That’s what we’ve been doing for nine years, and I’m here to say thank you to America, to people from all 50 states who have helped us do that, and to commit to this country that we will not forget our obligation to work with the rest of the country to take care of those who came to our aid – first as a rescue mission, and much too rapidly turning into a recovery mission. And we will not forget our obligation to educate our children and our grandchildren that our freedoms are fragile, and the young men and women overseas who are fighting and dying to let us continue to speak and to pray and to live the way we want to live – we will not forget ever."By 9/11 Memorial Staff

A volunteer organization born out of the 9/11 is helping to coordinate one of the largest volunteer service events in Arkansas. Earlier this month, The New York Says Thank You Foundation worked jointly with the Polk County Arkansas Long Term Recovery Committee and the Polk County 4-H Foundation to bring hundreds of volunteers from New York City and across the country to help rebuild Mena, Ark.

The rural town is about 140 miles west of Little Rock, Ark., the state's capitol city.  The town was devastated by a tornado on April 9, 2009 that killed three of the town's residents. Hundreds of homes were destroyed and damaged. To mark the 9th anniversary of 9/11, New York Says Thank You partner with the local organizations and volunteers across the country to help rebuild the town.

Jeff Parness of New York Says Thank You is traveling the nation to restore a U.S. flag recovered from ground zero. Ashen, tattered and blowing in the wind, the torn flag was recovered after the World Trade Center crumbled.  The flag was stitched back together several years later and grew into a symbol that reinforces the same commitment to service and volunteerism experienced across the country and world on Sept. 12, 2001.

On the ninth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, the flag will embark on a national tour to be restitched to its original glory. The first stop for the National 9/11 Flag was Mena.

After the flag makes its journey across America, it will return to New York City, where it will be added to the permanent collection of the 9/11 Memorial Museum.

By New York Says Thank You

Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who serves as chairman of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, hosted the charity's third annual benefit dinner last night. Jon Stewart of Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" served as the event's master of ceremonies. Bloomberg was a recent guest on Stewart's show. 

The dinner put a spotlight on the progress made toward the goal of opening the 9/11 Memorial on the 10th anniversary of the attacks. It also highlighted teh stories of volunteerism and compassion that was spawned from the events of Sept. 11th.

During the benefit, Robert Wood Johnson, IV, the New York Jet's chairman and chief executive officer, was presented with the "Distinction in Corporate Citizenship" award. Time Warner Inc. was honored for the "Distinction in Rebuilding" award. Jeff Bewkes, the chairman and CEO for Time Warner, accepted the award.

The benefit dinner was held at Cipriani Wall Street in Manhattan.

9/11 Memorial staff

Alice M. Greenwald has been working in museums for more than 30 years, a job she loves immensely.

"You get to shape something from the ground up," she said.

Greenwald has been the Director of the 9/11 Memorial Museum since 2006. As director, Greenwald is responsible for creating the museum that will tell the stories of September 11, 2001 and February 26, 1993.  She is in charge of developing programming, preparing exhibits, choosing artifacts, designing educational components, organizing and coordinating all the operational details of the museum, including overseeing the interior build-out and administration of the museum.  The museum, when it’s complete in 2012, will be adjacent to the 9/11 Memorial.

When asked why she joined the 9/11 Memorial Museum, Greenwald said she wanted the "opportunity to contribute. . . it was a challenge I couldn't pass up."

"Museums are all about the authentic," she said.  "This site itself is authentic."

Before joining the 9/11 Memorial Museum, Greenwald served as Associate Museum Director for Museum Programs for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.  Greenwald has also served as Executive Director of the National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia; Acting Director, Curator and Assistant Curator of the Hebrew Union College Skirball Museum in Los Angeles; and Curatorial Assistant at the Maurice Spertus Museum in Judaica, Chicago.

When not working at the museum, Greenwald spends time with her two children who live in Brooklyn.  She also loves to read novels and enjoys traveling around the globe.  Her recent trips include India, England, Ireland and Mexico.

By Meghan Walsh, Communications Associate for the 9/11 Memorial

Watch “We Remember” Today and Help Support the 9/11 Memorial in the American Express/Take Part Members Project - Production by the 9/11 Memorial Interns

Filmed at various popular locations in Manhattan’s Financial District and produced by the summer interns at the 9/11, this video features testimonials from former students who weren’t even old enough to be in college on September 11, 2001, but like so many men, women and children from around the world, the attacks and their aftermath remain forever engraved in their memories. It is through shared reflections like these that we are all reminded of our connection to that day. The progress currently taking place and all of the hard work at the World Trade Center site will benefit not only those coming to reflect on their own connection to Sept. 11, but to the generations who will not remember the event first-hand.

You can help make this meaningful tribute a reality by voting this week for the 9/11 Memorial as your choice for the American Express/Take Part Members Project. This online effort to win a $200,000 prize ends on August 22, 2010 and those funds will directly ensure the continued construction, operations, and meaningful educational work of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, an enduring tribute at the World Trade Center site where millions will come to remember for generations.

It only takes a few moments to register your email . . . and literally seconds to vote at the link below.

Please show this video and encourage your friends and family to vote. Post it to your Facebook and Twitter accounts and help us spread the word!

http://www.takepart.com/membersproject/vote

By the 9/11 Memorial Staff

Local photographer, Helena V., captured 9/11 history during her visit to the World Trade Center site in 2006, during the 5th year anniversary of the attacks.  While walking around ground zero, she took photographs of messages left by passersby and visitors expressing their sorrow, support and hope. 

“As an artist, I think it is very important to document these visual voices because people are attempting to publicize their thoughts for others to read, think and learn,” Helena V. said.  “Since these words don't have a very long life span, because city crews clean up these expressions, I feel that it is my duty to document these words so I can exhibit and publish them for others to appreciate.”

Helena V. has been working in professional photography since 2007.  Her current project is a fine art photo concept titled “The Museum of Messages.”  This project, which began in 1999, she said, is a collection of “photographs of messages that people write in urban landscapes about the environment, love, politics, humor, fear, expression, loyalty and more.”  Some of the messages from the trade center site are part of this collection.

Helena V. has also lived in New York since 1999.

“After September 11, 2001, New York City was a completely different place,” she said.  “It was the first time in my life, for a short period of time, that I felt uncomfortable falling asleep in the Big Apple.  However, that sense did change, and I feel that we have recovered from that experience as a stronger and bolder metropolis.”

Those same sentiments are expressed in many of the messages Helena V. captured during her time at ground zero.  Most of of the messages were written on signs posted around the site that said, “Post no bills.” 

A particularly strong message that Helena V. remembers is one that read, “Five years later you can still feel something in the air.  Never forget.  May 12, 2006.”

Images: The first photograph (left) is a message of love and support from Canada.  The second photo reads, "If we only had peace."

By Meghan Walsh, Communications Associate for the 9/11 Memorial

An online slideshow and story from DNAinfo.com reveals some of the large artifacts that are heading for the National September 11 Memorial & Museum in the fall.

According to DNAinfo’s Julie Shapiro, “The items include a 47,000-pound piece of the North Tower’s antenna and a 10,000-pound elevator motor that once propelled workers up into the skyscrapers.”

The 9/11 Memorial will open September 11, 2011, and the museum will open in 2012.

By Meghan Walsh, Communications Associate for the 9/11 Memorial

MyGoodDeed, a 9/11 non-profit organization, announced its plans Wednesday to organize the largest day of service in U.S. history on Sept. 11, 2011 in honor and commemoration of the 10th anniversary of the attacks, according to PR Newswire.  The announcement was made during the National Conference on Volunteering and Service in New York.

MyGoodDeed spearheaded the effort to establish Sept. 11 as an annual National Day of Service and Remembrance, which was signed into law by President Obama in April 2009.  The National September 11 Memorial & Museum is working with MyGoodDeed towards this day, along with numerous other non-profit organizations.

Approximately $1 million has already been raised, through private grants and federal support, to encourage the September 11 National Day of Service and Remembrance.  It was also announced that a special website will be launched to help organizations sign up for the day of service.  The goal is to enroll as many as 100,000 organizations before the 10th anniversary.

Volunteer service projects, open to the public, will be organized for September 10-11, 2010, in New York, Washington, D.C., Boston and Philadelphia.  Regional affiliates hope to encourage and mobilize volunteers through organized service projects in remembrance of the 9/11 victims.  Projects will occur in cities across the country and featured on HandsOnNetwork.org, and service opportunities will be posted on 911dayofservice.org.

The 9/11 Memorial will open at the World Trade Center site on Sept. 11, 2011, and the museum will open one year later, with service as an important element in its exhibits.  

By Meghan Walsh, Communications Associate for the 9/11 Memorial

Above: Two photos depict the scene of lower Manhattan after the World Trade Center towers fell on Sept. 11.  The first photo (left) is an image of Battery Park covered in ash.  The second photo  is the scene at Battery Park Pier as many people tried to leave Manhattan via ferry boats.  (Photos by Hiro Oshima)

The above photographs, taken by New Yorker Hiro Oshima, show the images he saw when he evacuated his lower Manhattan residence on Sept. 11.  The images are now part of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum’s Make History initiative.

Make History is a collective telling of the events of 9/11 through the eyes of those who experienced it, both at the attack sites and around the world.

Oshima has contributed many of the images he captured on Sept. 11 to the Make History archive.  Oshima, who witnessed the collapse of the towers, had moved to lower Manhattan in 1999.  He used to consider Windows on the World, atop the World Trade Center, his “neighborhood bar.”

Oshima, like many others, was evacuated from his building on 9/11.  His photographs show his movement from lower Manhattan to Battery Park and then onto New Jersey.  After Sept. 11, Oshima moved in with his college roommate in the East Village.  It wasn’t until December that his building was accessible.

The Make History archive currently contains more than 1,000 photographs and 300 stories.  Visitors to the site can upload their own pictures, videos and stories about 9/11 and the impact it had globally.

Make History has been recently recognized by an award academy that notes great achievements in the online community.

By Meghan Walsh, Communications Associate for the 9/11 Memorial