Participants of the event decorated rocks and made “leaves” representing the leaves of the Survivor Tree at Ground Zero.
Reminder Publishing photos by Deandra Rodriguez
MONSON — In remembrance of the tragic events that occurred on 9/11, the Monson Free Library partnered with Project 351 and the Massachusetts Military Hero Fund to honor those lost.
According to Project 351, “Project 351 is a youth service nonprofit organization that develops a rising generation of “community first” leaders. We wish to create extraordinary change by entrusting the hearts, hands, and minds of unsung heroes and quiet leaders.”
High school ambassador Emma Bannon and Youth Services Librarian Denise Newland put together this event to not only pay tribute to 9/11 but to make a direct impact within the Monson community.
“My role in this event was coming up with the initial plan, reaching out to a host site, finding volunteers to help me with the event, and I will be the one dropping thank you cards and donuts off to first responders,” Bannon explained. “Denise helped me advertise it and come up with a lot of the planning.”
Newland added, “Emma reached out to me via email to see if we would be interested in co-sponsoring and providing a space for the event at the Monson Free Library. She suggested the thank you notes for first responders and memorial rock painting activities and I helped come up with supplies and a few other child-friendly crafts to have on hand.”
At the event that took place on Sept. 7, child-friendly activities included a variety of crafts such as painting rocks to commemorate the event as well as creating “leaves” that had an encouraging and hopeful message. These “leaves” were meant to represent the leaves of the single Callerey pear tree otherwise known as the Survivor Tree found in the rubble of Ground Zero weeks after 9/11.
Alongside these crafts, Bannon and Newland put together a few ways to inform participants about the meaning of this event and why it was crucial to honor those lost on 9/11. This included a posterboard titled “Heroes to Remember”, which included information about military service members who sacrificed their lives during 9/11. They also included a table that detailed information about the event and detailed what occurred on 9/11.
Bannon shared that her first priority was making a difference in her community. Being a part of Project 351 was what set her on the path to do that.
“Being able to make a difference in my community is what inspired me to join Project 351, I was selected by my educators as the representative for Monson,” she said.
Newland then shared the potential for future collaborations between Monson Free Libary and Project 351.
“If future Project 351 student ambassadors would like to collaborate on events like this, I am sure we would be happy to work with them. We also usually put out materials later in the fall for people to make their own cards for veterans and to send out in the military care package drive in town,” Newland said.
