Seven years ago today I was fifteen years old and getting ready to school for the day. I was a sophomore in high school, and I remember in the morning watching the news. There was a story about a monkey that was roving loose in New Hampshire and they had been talking about it all week. I remember thinking to myself "wow, today has to be an incredibly slow news day."
There is no need for me to recount to you what happened later that morning. It has been branded onto our collective conscience and we all remember where we were, how we felt, who we were with. Since then, shameless politicking and the flagrant need to use September 11th as an excuse for everything from drilling for oil to cutting taxes has lessened the emotional impact of the date, but not at the personal level. 9/11 did change everything, but not in the way George Bush wanted it to, and not in the way he said it did. September 11th gave our country a common purpose, and I think it's important that today we take a portion of our day to honor that purpose and the commitment we made that day to be better people, and to help each other out.
Under the cut, I have included some names and contact information for relevant charities. I hope you will donate if you are able.
New York City Police Foundation
Charity Navigator Profile
Address:
345 Park Avenue
New York, NY 10154
Phone: (212) 751-8170
http://www.nycpolicefoundation.org
The American Red Cross
Charity Navigator Profile
Donation Address:
P.O. Box 4002018
Des Moines, IA 50340
Phone: (800) 435-7669
http://www.redcross.org
Twin Towers Orphan Fund
Address:
4800 Easton Drive, Suite 109
Bakersfield, CA 93309
Phone: (661) 633-9076
http://www.ttof.org/
National September 11 Memorial Fund
Address:
One Liberty Plaza, 20th Floor
New York, NY 10006
Phone: (212) 227-7722
http://www.national911memorial.org/
Families of September 11th
Phone: (212) 575-1878
http://www.familiesofseptember11.org
This is a very short list. Please post below with any other charities you consider worthy of donations.