White Plains CitizeNetReporter - Spano, Delfino Join Forces to Remember 9/11 in White Plains

WPCNR County Clarion Reporter. From Westchester County Department of Communications. August 9, 2002. :Poetry readings, musical selections and a moment of silence will be part of the program September 11 when Westchester County and Project Liberty hold a community gathering in downtown White Plains in honor of the 108 county residents lost in the World Trade Center attack.

The program will be held on Martine Avenue in front of the County Office Building starting at 8:30 a.m, and is expected to last approximately one hour.

“We wanted Westchester residents to have a place where they could come together as a community to commemorate Sept. 11 and remember those we lost,’’ said County Executive Andy Spano. “This is very much in keeping with the state-wide plans announced by the governor, only it will be closer to home and focus on Westchester. We are offering a simple and, what we hope will be, a moving event to mark a solemn day in our history. We ask Westchester residents to join us for this important commemoration.’’

The City of White Plains will close off Martine Avenue between Martin Luther King Boulevard and Court Street starting several hours before to accommodate the event.

“We thank White Plains and Mayor Joseph Delfino for hosting this event and Project Liberty for co-sponoring it with Westchester County," City of White Plains Mayor Joseph M. Delfino said as the county seat and the central point in Westchester, White Plains was the logical and most appropriate place to hold the event.

“The City of White Plains is very proud and honored to host this solemn event marking the one-year anniversary of the senseless tragedy that occurred on September 11, 2001,’’ said Delfino. “It is through these acts of community fellowship that Americans have renewed their faith and allegiance to the principles that our country stands for.’’

Project Liberty, a non-profit organization created with federal funds to offer counseling and other services to help residents rebuild their lives after 9/11, helped to organize and fund the event as a way to promote healing.

“Westchester County lost 108 of its citizens on September 11th, 2001. They were - spouses, parents, sons, daughters, siblings, friends, neighbors and part of our future. Each one is dearly missed,’’ said Jackie Connors, program director for Project Liberty, Westchester. “This ceremony is an opportunity for the Westchester Community to honor them. It also allows us to renew our commitments to ourselves, families, friends, community and our way of life.”

The program will include performances by vocal group The Westchester Chordsmen, a presentation by the Junior Girl Scout Troop 2261 of Irvington and the reading of a poem written and selected for the event by U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins, a Westchester resident. As in New York City and elsewhere around the state and nation, a moment of silence will be observed at 8:46 a.m., the time when the first plane hit the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.

Spano will speak about Westchester’s plans for a memorial to those lost on September 11 and will introduce members of a committee formed to help plan Westchester’s “Freedom Plaza.”

Also speaking will be Lois Bronz, chair of the Westchester County Board of Legislators, and Mayor Delfino. Master of Ceremonies will be former WNBC journalist Tony Aiello.


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