From an act of extraordinary evil on September 11, 2001, Americans responded with so many acts of extraordinary kindness. People from all across the United States poured into New York City to volunteer, to pay their respects, and to be with us in our darkest moment.
New Yorkers will never forget that.
The mission of The New York Says Thank You Foundation is to send volunteers from New York City each year on the 9/11 Anniversary to help rebuild communities around the country affected by disasters. It is our way of commemorating the extraordinary love and generosity extended to New Yorkers by Americans from all across the United States in the days, weeks, and months following September 11th. Our Foundation is registered with the IRS as a 501(c)(3) tax-deductible charitable organization.
Now in our seventh year as a 100% volunteer-based grassroots non-profit, The New York Says Thank You Foundation has helped rebuild homes burned in the Southern California wildfires; replanted 428 trees in two small Illinois towns devastated by an F3 tornado; rebuilt a 140-year-old church destroyed in a deadly Indiana tornado; rebuilt the tornado-ravaged home of a Texas family that has cared for Disabled Veterans for three generations; rebuilt a 14,000 square foot 4-H County Fairground Pavilion in Greensburg, Kansas; and rebuilt the Little Sioux Boy Scout Ranch in western Iowa hit by a deadly tornado that took the lives of four young Eagle Scouts. Following Hurricane Katrina we also organized nine separate rebuilding trips to the Gulf Coast and helped rebuild the home of a 6-year-old boy in Slidell, Louisiana battling Leukemia and a 38-year-old mother in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi battling terminal cancer.
Beyond the communities and individual families we have touched, we have also provided unforgettable and life affirming experiences for our scores of volunteers, many of them New York City firefighters and other New Yorkers who personally experienced 9/11, and who understand all too well the meaning of loss and sacrifice.
We are humbled by the hundreds of local volunteers who turn out at all our rebuilding missions and by the growing group of volunteers from all the communities across the country that we have assisted on previous anniversaries of 9/11 and who volunteer each year at subsequent projects as their way to “Pay It Forward.”
With the 10th year Anniversary of 9/11 fast approaching, I want to ask for your support to help us achieve our stated goal as an organization: To reach out as New Yorkers and as Americans and help rebuild communities recovering from disaster through the 10th year Anniversary of 9/11 and to take at least one member from every community we touch to help rebuild the next community in need. If we can keep this tradition going through September 11, 2011, that will serve as the greatest testament to the resilience and compassion of the American people. If we can do that for ten years, we win.
From one day of terror, 10 years of Kindness.
Welcome to The New York Says Thank You Foundation.
Jeff Parness
917-806-8061
Jeff@NewYorkSaysThankYou.org
