'You just can't forget': Bucks County remembers 9/11 at Garden of Reflection
Bucks County remembers 9/11 at Garden of Reflection
Yardley’s Garden of Reflection now has new memorial walls and a tree for the 25 anniversary of 9/11. Visitors can share messages and add fingerprints.
YARDLEY, Pa. - Walls of Reflection have been added to the 9/11 Garden of Reflection in Yardley to mark the 25th anniversary of the attacks, according to garden organizers. People are visiting to leave messages, signatures, and even colorful fingerprints as a way to process grief, remember loved ones, and bring the community together.
Walls allow for remembrance, unity, and healing
What we know:
The first of three Walls of Reflection is now available for visitors at the Garden of Reflection. People are using the space to write messages and reflect, according to Ellen Saracini, co-founder of the garden.
"It is a way for our community to come together and collectively put a message and their signature on the walls, having something to do with September 11th and their memories of it," said Saracini.
Catherine Lenarski of Ewing, New Jersey, visited the garden and walls for the first time.
"What I wrote was God after 25 years teach us to never forget," said Lenarski.
The backstory:
The 9/11 Garden of Reflection was co-founded by Ellen Saracini, whose husband Victor Saracini was the pilot of one of the planes hijacked and flown into the South Tower.
Saracini and others who were directly affected continue to honor the memory of September 11 through the garden.
"Everyone wanted to be with other people, they wanted to unify, they wanted to spread a message of hope and what can I do for you and I think these walls allow these messages to continue," Saracini said.
New commemorative features added for 25th anniversary
What's next:
A new tree has been added to the garden for the 25th anniversary. Visitors are invited to add their colorful fingerprints to it, making the tree "fully in bloom with everyone's participation bringing on healing and bringing the story of once it was bare and now it is full because the community has made it so," Saracini said.
The Walls of Reflection will remain up until September 20, when a 5K and 10K race is scheduled. Organizers hope runners and other attendees will sign the walls during these events.
What they're saying:
Kathy Quattrone of Levittown visited with her 13-year-old granddaughter, Maci.
"You can't forget. You just can't forget," said Quattrone. "You're going to make me cry but I just think that it does something for your heart to have that feeling to know that these people just went to work that day. And at the end of the day they were no more. And that can happen and for her to be aware of things like this," she said, referring to her granddaughter.
Maci said, "I think it's also important to like go out of your way like to come to places like this to learn about it."
What we don't know:
It is not yet confirmed how many people have visited or contributed messages to the Walls of Reflection since their installation.
Details about potential future plans for the walls after September 20 have not been provided.
The Source: Information from Garden organizers and direct participants at the Garden of Reflection.