On July 13th, the program director of our New Brunswick office, Carrie Miller, organized a trip to the National 9/11 Memorial and Museum in New York City with 9/11 responders and survivors from Middlesex County, New Jersey. Carrie, a licensed clinical social worker, accompanied them as they toured the museum and listened to their shared memories of September 11, 2001.

I’m a very curious person. When I am at a restaurant, I frequently check out the people seated nearby and wonder what their stories are. At school, I have struggled to identify my major and minor because there are so many subjects that appeal to me. When I am praying at church, I wonder why the ‘norm’ is that we bow our heads and close our eyes. So, after reading the article, “New York’s 9/11 Museum: What Should We Think about the Event Now?” written by Janet Davison of CBC News, I felt a connection to the theme.

This summer we are fortunate to have five New Canaan High School student interns working on the annual VOICES Community Response project. Their assignment this year was to focus on 9/11 memorials in the tri-state area. Given this topic, they were then free to choose which memorials they wanted to learn more about.

As the September 11th Anniversary is quickly approaching, we want to update you on several important items. At the top of the list, be sure to mark your calendars for the VOICES 13th Annual Day of Remembrance Information Forum to be held on September 10th from 8am to 5pm. The event will be held at the Marriott Hotel, located at 85 West Street, just adjacent to the 9/11 Memorial Museum in NYC.

Last week, VOICES summer interns had an office surprise… we’re going to camp! With three New Canaan Rams, a Bucknell Bison and Loyola Greyhound in tow, the interns will head up to Vermont for a weekend of leadership camp with the Jerusalem Peacebuilders. At Acer Farm, we will have the opportunity to meet Israeli, Palestinian, and American students of the Jewish, Muslim, and Christian faiths and to discuss our experiences with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through our own unique perspectives.