Sept 11 is a National Day of Service

[Teresa]

Citizens all over the US continue to remember 9/11 in a way that makes a real difference in their own communities. I believe this is a very beautiful and positive way to remember, to honor our country and 9/11 victims and families. Mostly its a good way to live.

Christian Science Monitor

Saturday is not only a day of remembrance, but also a national day of service ? a way to recapture the spirit of unity that many Americans felt after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.

A new website ? 911dayofservice.org ? aims to make it easier for people to match themselves up with causes they support. Think of it as an eHarmony of sorts for doers of good deeds. Organizers hope it will channel people?s willingness for volunteering year-round.

By plugging in keywords and a ZIP Code, you can find profiles of nearby nonprofits. Click on various buttons if you want to donate, volunteer, or simply spread the word about a cause on your social-networking sites. All the nonprofits in the United States ? more than 850,000 of them ? are in the database.

WATCH VIDEO: Build a 'mosque' near ground zero?

If you?d rather dream up your own good deed, there?s a place to post that, too.

?We want everyone to be able to get involved in remembering what happened on 9/11 in a constructive way,? says David Paine, president and co-founder of MyGoodDeed.org, which sprang up to promote service in the wake of the attacks and is hosting the new website.

?In most cases ... the first question people are asked is, ?Will you volunteer?,? and our research shows that only about 11 percent will say yes.... But if you ask people, ?What do you care about? What do you believe in?,? most people will tell you they?re interested in helping,? Mr. Paine says.

According to the new website's Facebook page, people plan to mark the day by doing everything from donating blood to being ?peaceful in thoughts, words, and action.? A mom and her sons will be painting storm drains in Renton, Wash. In Marion, Texas, a group will be welcoming three severely injured veterans into new specially adapted homes.

Last year, when a much simpler version of the site was launched, 300,000 people from 165 countries posted good deeds around the time of the 9/11 anniversary.

The website offers ?karma points? for various actions ? points that may eventually lead to grants or prizes for nonprofits and their supporters.

If you?re into what?s trending, you?ll also be able to see which organizations are galvanizing the most support, as traffic on the site builds up.

Of special interest to parents and teachers: a large collection of age-appropriate 9/11 lesson plans and oral-history videos.

?These tools will engage our nation?s youth in service that engenders global understanding and a greater appreciation for American resilience and spirit,? said Patrick Corvington, the CEO of the Corporation for National and Community Service, in announcing the website. The public-private partnership is one of the many organizations promoting 9/11 as a day of service.

Promoting 9/11 as a day of service... its the very best of the American spirit.

 

[30ashopper]

Wikipedia has a good set of articles breaking down of the rebuilding of ground zero.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Trade_Center_site

 

[30ashopper]

I think that in this day and age, there are going to be ? there is always going to be the potential for an individual or a small group of individuals, if they are willing to die, to kill other people. Some of them are going to be very well organized and some of them are going to be random. That threat is there. And it?s important, I think, for the American people to understand that, and not to live in fear. It?s just a reality of today?s world that there are going to be threats out there.

We have, I think, greatly improved our homeland security since 9/11 occurred. I am constantly impressed with the dedication that our teams apply to this problem. They are chasing down every thread not just from al Qaeda but any other actor out there that might be engaging in terrorism. They are making sure that even a ? what might appear to be a lone individual who has very little organizational capacity ? if they make a threat, they follow up.

But one of the things that I want to make sure we do as long as I?m President, and beyond my presidency, is to understand America?s strength in part comes from its resilience, and that we don?t start losing who we are or overreacting if, in fact, there is the threat of terrorism out there.

We go about our business. We are tougher than them. Our families and our businesses and our churches and mosques and synagogues and our Constitution, our values, that?s what gives us strength. And we are going to have this problem out there for a long time to come. But it doesn?t have to completely distort us. And it doesn?t have to dominate our foreign policy. What we can do is to constantly fight against it. And I think ultimately, we are going to be able to stamp it out. But it?s going to take some time.

- Obama

 

[30ashopper]

Far from the media frenzy dominating headlines, from the so-called "ground zero mosque" to a pastor's planned Quran burning, Aman Ali and Bassam Tariq traveled more than 13,000 miles into the heart of America over the last month, visiting 30 mosques in 30 days for Ramadan.

They began in New York, headed south and then cut across the country to California before making their way back, ending today in Michigan in the nation's largest Muslim community.

Like any road trip, there were strange moments along the way: A Mississippi police officer quizzed them about their beliefs on the ground zero mosque and they were asked to leave a mosque in Mobile, Alabama.

2 Muslims travel 13,000 miles across America, find an embracing nation - CNN.com

Despite all the headlines, we're still a pretty accomidating group.