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Westchester, Explained 25: 25 Years Later - Remembering September 11 with Jay Winuk, 9/11 Day Co-founder · This Week in Westchester: The Podcast

• 0:06
  SPEAKER_01: Hi Westchester.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_01: I'm Westchester County Government Communications Director Katherine Chaffee.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_01: And as an extension of This Week in Westchester, the podcast, we welcome you to Westchester Explained.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_01: In this episode, we commemorate the 25th anniversary of September 11th by sitting down with Jay Winnick, co-founder and executive vice president of 9-11 Day, whose brother Glenn lost his life rushing towards the World Trade Center to help others.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_01: Jay, a former Austin resident, shares his family's deeply personal story and how his brother's lifelong commitment to service helped inspire a national movement that helped transform September 11th into a federally recognized National Day of Service and Remembrance.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_01: We explore how millions of Americans now honor the day through volunteerism and good deeds, the importance of passing the lessons of 9-11 on to a new generation, and how Westchester residents can participate locally through service opportunities in our own communities with the help of organizations like Volunteer New York.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_01: Join us as we reflect on tragedy, service, remembrance, and the enduring power of coming together, and why it matters to Westchester residents.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_01: Because this is Westchester Explained.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_01: So let's begin.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_01: So here in the podcast studio today, we have Jay Winnick, who is the co-founder and executive vice president of 9-11 Day, which is a nonprofit organization that began and annually organizes the September 11th National Day of Service and Remembrance.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_01: So, first of all, Jay, thank you so much for being with us.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: It's my pleasure.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for having me.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_01: So we are approaching the 25th anniversary of 9-11, which is I can't even believe it's been 25 years.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_01: In some ways, it feels like it was yesterday.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_01: In other ways, it feels like it was 100 years ago, right?
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_01: Um you have first of all, you're the head of an organization that just a remarkable organization where it ties here in Westchester.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_01: And um we have Volunteer New York, which carries out your mission here in the county.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but take us back to 9-11.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_01: Where were you that day?
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_01: You obviously suffered a tremendous tragedy that day personally.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_01: Take us back there.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: Uh well, first of all, thanks for having me.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: That morning, uh, I was in my home office in Mayapac.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I uh was running a public relations business at the time and would often work from home.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: And I was on the phone with a friend, hung up that call, and my phone in the office immediately rang as soon as I hung up.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: And another person said, Turn on the TV.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: Did you hear what happened downtown?
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: So I did have a TV in my office, turned it on in time to see the second tower get hit.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I immediately and of course we're shocked, you know, just like everybody was shocked.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: Because then, you know, when the second impact happened, we knew this was something that was intentional, not an accident.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: Um, my brother Glenn Winnick, uh, who was a partner at a law firm in Manhattan, but Midtown, um, I knew his offices were down there, not in the towers, but near the towers.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: So I immediately started calling him.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: Especially because Glenn was a volunteer firefighter and an EMT for 20 years in our hometown of Jericho, uh Long Island.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: And he had responded in '93 when the Trade Center was bombed.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: So I knew his office was close at 195 Broadway to the World Trade Center.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: I knew Glenn was in the city because I had spoken with him the night before.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: And couldn't reach him, of course.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: You know, and that's how the day started.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_00: And of course, things unfolded from there.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_01: And so um your brother I mean, he he unfortunately was killed that day.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_01: But how did he end up at the towers?
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: Glenn helped uh evacuate.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: He was actually in his apartment when the first plane hit, raced downtown, got to his office building, went upstairs.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: They were on the maybe the 20th or the 21st floor, helped evacuate his law offices because that building, being so close to the trade center, was being evacuated by first responders on the scene who were getting everybody out of that building.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um borrowed a first response medic bag from the city responders who were on the scene, and then headed on foot two blocks to the Trade Center.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: Um and gained access to where others may not have gained access because he had his fire department credentials on him, his Jericho fire department credentials in his wallet.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and so you know, he was he did what firefighters do.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: You know, they run towards danger as others wisely were running away.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_00: He was the only person from his office building to have perished because he as I said, he you know, he had the training and the guts and the skills and the and the proximity to help people.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_00: And so his So his partial remains were found uh March twentieth, two thousand two.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: Uh stethoscope on his torso, surgical gloves on his hand.
• 5:41
  unknown: Wow.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: Uh medic bag by his side in what had been kind of the lobby area, we think, of the South Tower.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um that day, did he speak to anybody before he went down?
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, there was another um military trained um uh attorney in the office, and the two of them were gonna run there together.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_00: They got downstairs to street level, and that other gentleman said, I'm gonna go upstairs and do one more sweep of our offices.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_00: And Glenn said, Okay, I'll see you over there.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: And that was it.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_00: That guy survived and Glenn didn't.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_00: That little bit of a you know, kind of sliding doors decision saved one guy's life and, you know, uh resulted in the loss of another.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, and it was a harrowing several weeks.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_00: You know, everybody in the 9-11 community was holding out hope, you know, uh, for those of us who didn't have certainty as to whether or not their loved one had perished.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, maybe he's, you know, there were so many levels below ground in the trade center, or maybe he's in a hospital, got banged on the head, wandering around the city, uh, whatever it may be.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: And the hope diminished each day, of course, but we didn't really give up hope until um, you know, the authorities said this is no longer a rescue operation, this is just recovery.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: And that was, you know, early October.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_01: It's um, it's it's you know, I have young people on the team here, and it's hard to explain to them how different things were prior to 9-11.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_01: And on 9-11, like you mentioned, the first plane hit, and all of us thought, oh, it's it's just an accident.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_01: It's not not that it's not a big deal, but like, oh, accidents happen and things happen, and everyone was moving about their daily lives until the second plane hit.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_01: And that's when people really realized something is terribly wrong.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_01: And even the hope that you mentioned that, you know, we we all were hopeful there were gonna be victims who were injured and they were gonna be coming to the hospitals in Westchester, and we just a different mindset.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_01: We were so all of us were so innocent in a way.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um, when you you know, your brother obviously was a remarkable person who was he was an attorney and at that moment decided, no, I'm a firefighter and I need to go help people.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_01: Tell me a little bit more about him.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_01: What was he like?
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, he was um really taken with the whole first responder thing since the time we shared a bedroom growing up.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, he he was the kid chasing fire trucks on his bicycle, you know, and we didn't live that far from the local fire department and uh our on the middle of the three Winnick boys.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: My older brother, our older brother Jeff, was a volunteer firefighter before Glenn.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, I think that um inspired him some.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and he was also inspired by an uncle we had who served in the FDNY in Brooklyn, uh Harold Einhorn, who was a wonderful man.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, we'd visit the firehouse occasionally and he would take us down the fire pole when we were little kids.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_00: And Glenn was just really taken with it.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um, he was a Cub Scout.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_00: He was really devoted his whole life to community service.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_00: He really was.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, he had earned a black belt in karate, but was never the guy to start a fight, you know.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_00: He um he was uh he was a really good student.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_00: We wound up at the same uh undergraduate college in Sunni, Oneta.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_00: So we had a lot of similar friends, not only from growing up, but during uh college years.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_00: And then he went on to Hofstra Law School.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_00: Um, loved the law.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um kind of law to do practice.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_00: He was a litigator.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um he worked across a few different kinds of uh divisions, um, construction, maritime, some others too.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_00: Um very accomplished, but at 40 years old, he was really just getting going, you know?
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_01: He's very young.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_00: And he was still going out to Long Island until he became a partner at the ferry.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_00: He was going out to Long Island on the weekends to, well, to do his laundry at my parents' house, but also to fight fires and run emergency calls.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_00: He was just very passionate about it.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of his best friends were firefighters.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_01: So after the tragedy, um, and after they found your brother's remains and you and you went through that grieving process, which I'm sure you're still going through to his, you know, to a certain degree.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_01: What what inspired you?
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_01: What inspired you about that day about your brother to start this organization to get other people to volunteer?
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_00: It's an important question because I I really wanted to do something in Glenn's honor, but I didn't quite know what it was going to be.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_00: Uh as a public relations professional, I had worked on uh literally dozens of cause-related uh initiatives for various clients over the years.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_00: Uh all kinds of, you know, stuff, environmental and healthcare related and all kinds of things.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um But I didn't know what I was going to do uh regarding what to do to best honor Glenn.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_00: And I got a phone call from a colleague in the public relations industry and a guy I was friends with, but he was, he had moved from New York to California.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_00: We had both worked at the same big PR agency in New York before he moved, and then we both went on to form our own PR businesses.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and his name was David Payne, and he called me up uh, you know, a few months after 9-11.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_00: I was the only 9-11 family member he knew, and he was watching what was happening from California back in his hometown, the way people came together.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_00: The unity that was uh so apparent and so natural and really spontaneous in the aftermath, starting on 9-12.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um and he said, I want to bounce an idea off you.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_00: What do you think about trying to create a ritual in this country where the anniversary is marked each year by people doing good deeds?
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_00: So that the terrorists don't own the day for all time, but that the focus is also about how we came together, how we focused on our common humanity.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_00: And I thought, well, you know, my brother lived a life of service and died in service to other people.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_00: I like this idea, David.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_00: Um so we, you know, we talked about it over the course of some weeks and I jumped in with him and we got going.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_00: We just kept putting one foot in front of the other.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_00: It was it was uh admittedly a very ambitious goal.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_00: Sure, we'll just create a natural, a national, nationwide ritual, you know.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_00: But what the hell?
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_00: But you did it.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um but we did it.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we uh the only thing we had going for us really was that we were communications professionals.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_00: We didn't have a staff or a budget or a plan or, you know, really anything when we started.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_00: But we knew about messaging and we knew about um uh reaching uh various constituents and uh marketing an idea, if you will.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um so we had a good start anyway.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um a shameless plug for communications professionals, as we're now in a room full of them.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_01: But it's true.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I think when you're a communications professional, you also know that people are motivated by emotion, right?
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_01: And everybody, I mean, you talking about what it was like in this country on September 12th.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_01: I remember what you're talking about is bringing back that feeling like it was that day.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_01: And there was this beautiful unity that unfortunately doesn't exist today.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but it was such a beautiful, it was a horrible, tragic day, and and New York will forever hold those scars.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_01: But there was a beauty that came out of it, and that was the beauty, and your organization captures it.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_01: Um, tell me how how it grew.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_01: How did it grow?
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_01: Just capitalizing on that emotion.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, that was certainly the beginning because as you say, you know, anybody who was alive and old enough at the time to comprehend what was happening out there, not only in New York, but all over the country, and for that matter, all over the world.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_00: You know, people from more than 90 countries perished on 9-11.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but there was this outpouring globally, like I am an American today, you know, it was that kind of everybody wanted to take pride and step forward and pitch in in one way or another with acts large and small.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and so yes, we did want to try to recapture that.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but the question is, okay, well, how do you do it?
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_00: You know.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and you know, we started building a network of family in people inside and outside the 9-11 community.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um, almost from the beginning, we pursued in Washington, D.C., getting 9-11 recognized as a national day of service under federal law, which took some years to achieve, but now it is, uh, along with MLK Day, one of only two so recognized under federal law.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_00: That language passed uh in 2009 as part of the Edward M.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_00: Kennedy Serve America Act, uh, bipartisan act.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_00: And um it really it kind of encapsulated uh the fact that this was a national tragedy.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_00: This wasn't something that just happened in Shanksville and at the Pentagon and in New York, but really affected everybody in this country.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um But uh you know, we we kept putting one foot in front of the other, as I say.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and we did have a great deal of participation, but it took some years for it to really, really gain traction.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_00: And uh in in 2016, we changed kind of our business model by staging our own large-scale signature service project events that people can look at and say, ah, now I get it, you know?
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_00: And when I say people, that includes corporate America, because we had to uh evolve into something that was more fundable than simply marketing an idea, this notion that a proper, meaningful, impactful way to uh mark the day is by engaging in good deeds.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, well, what does that mean?
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_00: So we started staging our own events.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_01: Aaron Powell So let's talk about what that means, because that means different things.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's very it can mean different things to different people.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_01: So what does it mean?
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_00: It really is about doing good deeds.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't even necessarily mean going out and volunteering in some organized activity.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_00: Again, reflecting the way people responded in their own comfort zones to the attacks and the needs uh afterwards uh that communities and countries had because the ripple effect of these attacks we still feel today.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_00: So uh there was a big change in this country.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_00: And the question is, okay, well, how you know, how do we get back to a place that feels safe and normal and compassionate and you know, whatever, again, productive.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and that took some time.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_00: But we thought part of the ingredients would be a day of service to remind people every year uh about this notion of we're stronger together than we are apart.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_00: Trevor Burrus, Jr.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_01: We sure are.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_01: And so for good deeds, you know, for you personally, what is the what is the good what are the good deeds that you do on that day?
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_01: Just to give people some examples.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I'm you know, in New York, I'm in Manhattan uh every year on 9-11.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um in New York, we stage these large-scale meal packing uh events aboard the Intrepid.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um and we bring thousands of volunteers together to pack non-perishable shelf stable meals that are then donated to um uh food banks in in New York, uh City Harvest and the Food Bank for New York.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_00: Uh we started with one in 2016.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_00: Uh after a couple of years, we added three more cities, and then we added four more cities.
• 17:48
  unknown: Wow.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_00: And then we were uh last year in 24 cities across the country, and this year for the 25th anniversary, there'll be um these large-scale meal packing events in 50 U.S.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_00: cities.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_01: That's amazing.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_00: Where we're up more than 17 million meals will be packed.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_01: That is amazing.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_01: That is amazing.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, what I can't think of a more perfect way to honor your brother.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_01: That's really beautiful.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_01: There was talk, I guess it was I don't know how many years ago it was now, um, about making 9-11 a federal holiday and everything being closed.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_01: And there were some people who felt no, uh, because then we will lose sight of what happened that day.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_01: How do you feel about that?
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_00: I I get it.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_00: I understand why, and the intention is good.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I am kind of of two minds about it, but I both personally and as an organization, uh 9-11-day organization.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_00: We're not really in favor of it, and I'll tell you why.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we don't want the anniversary of 9-11 to turn into three-day weekends and barbecues and white sales.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, absolutely.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_00: And that is what happens with some holidays in this country.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_00: We'd rather it be a day on, not a day off.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um, plus, if it's a federal holiday that, you know, that affects a lot of people who don't um necessarily want another day off and don't get paid as a result.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_00: And um, but the the primary reason is we want people to focus on actively engaged in in doing good deeds.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_00: Now, you know, we talk about the meal packs as one example.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_00: So many, the large majority, and this is the way they're structured, the large majority of those who come to volunteer, and there'll be more than 50,000 volunteering just at the meal packs that I just described across the country, they are the employees of the corporations who help pay for the cost of staging those events.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_00: The food, the venue, the marketing of it so that everybody knows it's happening.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um there are so many expenses to staging these events, but particularly the food.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_00: And almost all the money goes towards the execution of the event and the actual food that uh is is generated to feed hungry people.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_00: So um, if it's a holiday and it's a day off, well, the corporate corporate employees are not even going to work.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_00: Very true.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um so for a lot of reasons, we rather it just it it already is a national day of service and remembrance, recognized under federal law.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_00: And we think that's the most appropriate way.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_01: Aaron Powell Absolutely.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_01: And so now for the 25th, which again we were saying can't even believe it's been 25 years.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_01: Um are you going to do anything different this year, or is it for you personally to Yeah.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_00: Well, um yeah, I mentioned the Intrepid, where the the interest is such that we're doing that for four days on the Intrepid.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_00: Eighth, ninth, tenth, and eleventh.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_00: So right there, you know, there's going to be about four million meals generated for the 25th anniversary just in New York.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um but yes, we are um uh staging for the first time ever a national moment of silence at 911 a.m., which will originate from Times Square.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um when and and so many of the billboards are going to at 911 and have a countdown.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and there'll be musical performances by talented young people, including some children from the some young people, they're not longer children anymore from the 9-11 community.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so that's really special.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_00: We also um started a grant program for the 25th anniversary um with the help of the Popeyes Foundation and AmeriCorps, which is a great supporter of 9 11 Day, uh, where we have now given out uh about three million dollars in grants to nonprofit organizations around the country and educational institutions for them to stage their 9 11 related service projects.
• 21:59
  SPEAKER_00: Uh We just started a um Unite uh ad campaign that broke this week that's going to be running all over the country with PSAs and billboards and um Unite for Good is kind of the theme this year.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um Pete Davidson, the comedian and actor, um just yes, he did.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_00: He lost his dad, was a firefighter in Brooklyn.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_00: Um so he stepped forward and recorded with us a wonderful PSA announcement uh for the Unite for Good campaign that just broke um this week.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_00: So you'll be seeing that.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's really tremendous.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_00: He did a great job.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_00: And he he was a wonderful guy to um be with while he was recording this in the studio.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_00: So there's an awful lot going on this year for the 25th anniversary, but it's really about the future.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_00: There's there's been a hundred million people born in this country since 9-11 happened.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_00: They have no direct memories like you and I do um of the attacks, nor of the way the nation came together.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_00: Trevor Burrus, Jr.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_01: It's I mean, how do you I want how do you explain this to a younger generation that has been born since, that maybe was a year or two old when it happened?
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_01: How do you explain to them what that day was like, what happened, the aftermath?
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_01: How do you explain it?
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_00: Aaron Powell We do have a pretty robust education program in schools around the country, free downloadable lesson plans on our website, 911day.org, that are used in thousands of classrooms, um, grade schools, age-appropriate lesson plans that talk about civic engagement and the the intersection between 9-11 and the uh opportunities young people have to impact the world around them and community service.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_00: That's part of it.
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_00: You're focusing on that.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_00: We really are focusing on young people.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_00: We are because you know, we as a nation, we made the promise to never forget.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_00: But if you weren't there at the time, how do you remember?
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_00: So we're very focused on the education component and the public awareness component because we want this ritual to be handed off from generation to generation, long after you and I and so many others are are no longer here, because it does present people with an opportunity to make a difference while honoring the day and those lost, injured, and sickened as a result of the attacks.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_01: Now it's it's um I have three young sons, they're teenagers.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and they learn about it in school, but I also find that it's was always very difficult for me to talk about.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_01: So I not that I didn't talk about it, I just didn't go into great detail.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_01: And when they, you know, found out about the 9-11 museum in the city and they wanted to go, I was like, I don't know if I could hand I don't know that might be a little too much for me.
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_01: But what I did find out, which I think is terrific, is that the museum um will let any uh school in the tri-state area have field trips there for free, which I think is great because that's just then it becomes part of the curriculum and it's just part of their world and they understand what happened.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's a hard topic to talk about.
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_00: It is a hard topic.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_00: And the museum is a fantastic place for people, and they do come from all over the world, you know, to learn about not only the attacks and the history uh and the loss, but also about the service component.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, the museum starting on September 12th will make public, uh, make available to the public a brand new exhibit that they just installed, just focused on the service component of uh 9-11.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_00: I happen to go to a preview of it, uh uh and it is it's beautifully done.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_00: It's really very good.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_00: And the and this exhibit focused on service in their honor um will be there for uh two or three years.
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_00: That's great.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_00: So it's a really great special exhibit.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_00: But it goes to your point about how do you how do you teach about the 9-11 story to people who didn't live through it?
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_00: And these are important elements.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_01: Very important.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_01: And and I mean, we talk a lot about how it impacted the whole nation.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_01: And you obviously are head of an organization that is a national movement.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um but as New Yorkers and kids who are New Yorkers, I feel like it's it's a less, it's an even more important lesson because this happened in their home.
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it happened in their backyard.
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_00: And so um I'm very inspired by um the young people who I see participating in the 9-11 National Day of Service.
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_00: It's really so, I mean, I I say this all the time, but I I feel it from the heart.
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_00: I have a front row seat to the most amazing outpouring of goodwill.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_00: It's really a privilege to be able to work on this with, you know, my colleague and friend David Bain and our unbelievable staff.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we have a staff of about 20 people, and they're all over the country, and they're doing such great work.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_00: And we have a great board of directors and so many amazing, great corporate sponsors.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_00: And it's just been uh it's it's very gratifying to get to work on all this.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_01: So, anybody listening, if they want to learn more about what you do and your organization, they want to get involved, where do they go?
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_01: What do they do?
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, they should go to our website.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_00: That's a great first place to go, 911day.org, 911day.org.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_00: It's just uh we built a new site this year for the 25th anniversary.
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_00: It's got tons of great um visuals.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_00: Um uh they we're we're encouraging with this unite uh campaign that I talked about that Pete Davidson is part of for people to go to the site and pledge to do one good deed, make those pledges between now and the anniversary itself.
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um we're looking for a million pledges leading up to 9-11.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, there are about 30 million people who participate in the National Day of Service each year, and that's great.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_00: It's by far the largest day of service in the history of the country, but we're looking for a million pledges.
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's simple.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_00: And there's all kinds of ideas on the site for, you know, what can I pledge to do?
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_00: What's going to be my good deed for 9-11?
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_00: It's great.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_00: There's a documentary coming out about the history of 9-11 Day in our organization.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, that's wonderful.
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_00: Inclusive of my brother Glenn's story, which is wonderful by these Emmy Award-winning documentarians, uh John Siskel and Greg Jacobs.
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_00: So that's coming out very soon in advance of the of the anniversary.
• 28:17
  SPEAKER_00: So a lot of exciting things happening.
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_01: And locally here in Westchester, for anybody listening, Volunteer New York does have uh their day of service here in the county.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_01: The county is a partner, they have a lot of great opportunities for people to volunteer.
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_01: So great organization.
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_01: Go to Volunteer New York, uh, their website and and look up and see what you could do there.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_01: And you could donate blood, you could pack meals, you could do all kinds of great things.
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_00: So there's yeah, I agree.
• 28:43
  SPEAKER_00: They've been great participants in in 9-11 day for years.
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_01: So Yeah, and again, it's just like bringing light to such a dark day, but it's so much light on it.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um you know, in closing, 25 years from now, when we're doing the 50th anniversary, um, what do you want people on that day, on the 50th anniversary, to know?
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_00: If if we've done our job right, uh everybody will wake up that day and instantly know it's a it's a day of service and remembrance.
• 29:17
  SPEAKER_00: You know, like that's the thing to do that day.
• 29:20
  SPEAKER_00: Do a good deed for somebody in need or your community or for your family or whatever it may be.
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_00: It's such a look, we all know that when we do something like that, we feel better of ourselves.
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_00: You're doing something for yourself when you do something for somebody else, right?
• 29:36
  SPEAKER_01: I think sometimes you do it more, you do it for somebody else, but you end up getting a benefit.
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_00: You're so right.
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, if if it became ubiquitous, as many people as participated in, you know, the 9-11 Day of Service, there's that many more people who even don't even know it's a National Day of Service.
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_00: So that would be my goal for 25 years from now, because you know, even more of the country will not have lived through it.
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_00: But if if everybody in the country understands 25 years from now that here's the way to mark the day, here's a way to mark the day, let me do a good deed for somebody else.
• 30:09
  SPEAKER_00: That'll be very, very gratifying.
• 30:11
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I agree with you.
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much for joining us and telling us your story and getting us inspired to volunteer.
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_01: It's um it's again, it's it's goodness that came out of just an unspeakable tragedy.
• 30:24
  SPEAKER_00: It's my pleasure.
• 30:25
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.