Twenty-four years after the attacks on September 11, 2001, the Philadelphia Eagles, in partnership with 9/11 Day, paid tribute to the anniversary of one of the most impactful days in United States history.
In the club level of Lincoln Financial Field, thousands of volunteers worked together to pack nearly 850,000 meals, which were donated to Philabundance. The fourth-consecutive year of the event spanned throughout the day on Thursday and began with messages from two people directly impacted by the events of 9/11.
Ed Root and his daughter, Emily Root Schenkel, lost a close family member, Lorraine Bay, on Flight 93. Bay was Ed's first cousin and Emily's aunt and Godmother. Ed and Emily opened this year's event by telling their story and expressing their desire to continue to honor those lost on 9/11.
"The importance for me is obviously to keep the memory of 9/11 and just to remember it. And personally, the idea of remembering it through acts of service is very powerful," said Emily, who named her daughter Lorraine to honor her aunt. "Talking to my children about that day as I know a lot of people have, we focus on the decisions made out of love and service for others and try not to focus on the hate side of it so much.
"Seeing this day grow over the last four years and how many people come out in service to others is a really powerful way of paying tribute to all the people who lost their lives on 9/11."
Bay was a flight attendant on United Airlines Flight 93, which was hijacked by four members of al-Qaida. The intended target of the flight was claimed to be the U.S. Capitol Building, but once the members on board found out what was taking place, they came together to fight back. While there was a battle to gain control of the plane, it crashed in Somerset County, PA, and none of the 44 people on board survived.
Ed and Emily have worked closely with the Flight 93 National Memorial, which is located in Stoystown, Somerset County, to help honor the legacy of Bay and everyone else on her plane. Ed was a member of the panel that selected the design for the memorial, and Emily is currently on the Friends of Flight 93 board, a nonprofit organization that supports the memorial.
In his remarks about Flight 93, Ed spoke about how everyone on board were the true first responders on 9/11, stepping in and doing what they could to mitigate the damage.
"They had two things that people on the other planes and the ground didn't have," Ed said about those on the flight. "They had knowledge. Not a lot, but enough. And they had time. Not a lot, but enough. They used that knowledge and they used that time to implement a plan to stop maybe even a greater tragedy on the U.S. Capitol. The real thing with Flight 93 was that those people came together in such a short period of time as all the people today here are doing, coming together for service."
As the years from 9/11 pass, there are fewer and fewer people who remember the tragedy. Ed's goal is to help bridge that gap.
"I like to call it the 'us' and 'them' of history," Ed said. "On 9/11, those of us who lived through it, it happened to us. All the emotions, whether it was the confusion, the terror, the hate, the anger, whatever emotion that we felt will never go away, it happened to us. But now, 24 years later, there's maybe a third of the country who was either not born or old enough to experience that. And to them, it's part of history. It's something that happened to them.
"Our challenge is to keep that memory alive and keep that understanding alive so that future generations will understand and not let it just become something that happened to them — some historic event in the deep dark past. So that's the challenge we have today."
Gatherings like Thursday's meal packing are a way to marry those two timelines. It provides an opportunity for people of all ages and backgrounds to come together and honor 9/11, while providing service for those in need.
"I think (the meal packing is) very powerful in relation to keeping that memory alive and I appreciate that it has taken those feelings of obviously sadness and tragedy and anger and directed them towards service and helping others while also remembering that day and what happened that day instead of just it being like a story," Emily said. "It brings it all together for me. It kind of makes it come full circle."
Added Ed: "I think the important thing is the people who are involved in this who come here, the understanding is (it's) more than just one day a year. I feel that goes forward, that you can have that appreciation and have that service. Today certainly is the focus, but it's something that goes on long after today, so that's a real key to the success of all this, and I think that's very important."
As both Ed and Emily took part in the event, they had a sense of pride working alongside an organization they have long supported. Ed was 14 years old when he attended the 1960 NFL Championship Game at Franklin Field, and he raised Emily as an Eagles fan.
Now, they get to spend every 9/11 with the team they cheer for working towards a cause they care for.
"To have something that I love as much as I do help me to spread the word about something else that means so much to me, it's hard to explain the impact of that," Emily said. "I'm very, very appreciative and very grateful, and that's why I've been involved for the four years." — Written by Matt Ryan
