September 10, 2007
The United in Memory Victims Memorial Quilt returned to the
Staten Island campus of St. John’s University in honor of the sixth
anniversary of the tragedies of 9/11 this weekend. For the
second-straight year, family members and friends gathered for a
private reception and viewing of the quilt when it arrived on
Friday evening and the exhibit was open to the public Saturday
through Monday.
“There are so many great memorials that are all fitting, all
appropriate and all necessary but there is something more
comforting about this memorial,” State Senator Andrew J. Lanza
said, describing it as a blanket that was “mended together the way
this community has been mended together forever.”
Photo
Gallery
Corey Gammel, CEO and founder of United in Memory, came up with
the idea of the quilt after feeling compelled to do something to
commemorate the victims of the 9/11 attacks. Each and every
victim of the attacks on the World Trade Center Towers I and II,
the Pentagon and the passengers and crew of American Airlines
Flights 11 and 77 and United Airlines Flights 93 and 175 have been
memorialized on the 16,000 square foot quilt, which was made by
over 3,000 volunteers from around the world. Together with the
Where-to-Turn Foundation and the Joseph Maffeo Foundation, the
quilt made its first appearance at St. John’s in September 2006, to
commemorate the five-year anniversary.
“We must teach our children and our children’s children that
good things can still come out of bad circumstances,” said Dennis
McKeon, Executive Director of Where-to-Turn. “We can not let
things like 9/11 change the people we are.”
Throughout the weekend, a steady stream of visitors attended the
exhibit, reflecting in their own personal ways. Charles Amoroso,
whose son Christopher had attended St. John’s University’s Queens
campus and was a Port Authority Police Officer killed at the World
Trade Center, travels around the East coast with his family to
visit the quilt whenever it is on exhibit. The Amoroso family
has visited several other memorials – daughter Jessica Amoroso, a
singer, has performed at several ceremonies dedicated to 9/11 – but
finds a comfort in the quilt that they don’t feel other places.
“When I leave here, I leave here with a smile,” Mr. Amoroso said
with a peaceful grin on his face. His wife Donna added, “When
I first saw the quilt (at Pier 94 in 2003), it felt like
home. We spent the entire day there.”
Theresa Papasso, mother of Salvatore Papasso, a 1989 graduate of
St. John’s Staten Island campus, who was also killed at the World
Trade Center, visited the quilt last year and after describing it
as “the most beautiful and warm tribute,” knew she had to come back
again this year to the place her son had held so dear to his
heart.
For more information about the United in Memory 9/11 Victims
Memorial Quilt, please visit www.unitedinmemory.net.
For information about the Where-to-Turn Foundation, visit www.where-to-turn.org.
Media inquiries may be addressed to Elizabeth Reilly, Assistant
Director of Media Relations at St. John’s University by calling
(718) 990-5789, or by e-mail to reillye@stjohns.edu. For
additional news about St. John’s, please visit www.stjohns.edu/news.