This September found the New York Says Thank You foundation and the National 9/11 Flag in the mountainous town of Mena, Arkansas. In April of 2009 the town of Mena was his hard by devastating tornadoes. Lives were lost, homes were destroyed, and countless more received other damages. The task facing volunteers this year was the rebuilding of three family homes, a community center, and several other smaller projects during the course of the build.
Included in this year’s build was the presentation of the National 9/11 Flag and the initial stitching ceremony at the state capital in Little Rock. Over the course of the next year the flag will travel to all fifty states to be stitched back to it’s original format after being severely damaged in the collapse of the World Trade Center buildings on September 11, 2001.
This year’s projects were very successful. Great new friends were met along the way. Sleep was rare…challenges were steep…yet in the end everyone came together to help lend a hand to mend broken homes and heal hearts. Everything was incredible.
I was fortunate enough to have the task of building a rocking chair from reclaimed 200+ year old pine boards from one of the homes. It was an awesome project and with many nights lasting into the hours of the next morning a chair was delivered to bring the old house into the new home.
A very special thanks to Charlie, Holly, Pia, Brendan (A.K.A. – Rodney), Taylor, Pam, Tony, Greg, Rob, Larry, Marina, Rory, Big Mike, Pauly, Jimmy Sands, Mr. Parness, Jimmy Z, Ben & Keli, Ammie & Tom, and last and certainly most importantly my lovely wife Jill and our boys Mason and Samuel.
Thank you Mena, we hope to see you next year at our next destination.
