As communities across the nation come together to commemorate the 10th anniversary of 9/11, New Haven city officials along with Yale administrators and students have worked together to plan events this Sunday encompassing themes of unity, reflection and service.
A multifaith service sponsored by Interfaith Cooperative Ministries and a community service fair featuring various city nonprofits are among events featured in the afternoon on the New Haven Green, and a candlelight vigil will be hosted on Cross Campus at 7:30 p.m., during which University Chaplain Sharon Kugler, University President Richard Levin and Yale College Council President Brandon Levin ’13 will speak.
“Out of the conversations, the idea developed to have a few cornerstone events,” wrote Morand. “It is all intended to be open and connected.”
The schedule was put together by a group convened by the Yale Office of Public Affairs and Communications over the past several months, with members drawn from the Yale College Dean’s Office, the Yale College Council, the Mayor’s Office and other Yale and New Haven leaders, said Michael Morand ’87 DIV ’93, OPAC director of state communications and special initiatives, in an e-mail.
Events of the day, Kugler said in an e-mail, range from personal or religious reflection to community service in order to allow for “multiple dimensions” of remembrance.
“We have tried to bring together as many voices as possible from the broader Yale community and New Haven to work together on creating events,” Kugler, also a part of the effort, wrote.
A citywide bell ringing at 1 p.m. comes first on the list publicized events. Barbara Lamb, director of the city’s Office of Cultural Affairs, said she sent letters to city houses of worship — about 250, she said — and notified the city’s emergency personnel to request they ring their bells or start their sirens for one minute beginning on the hour, as was suggested by the United States Senate.
Katherine Zhou ’12, co-chair of the Yale Guild of Carillonneurs, said her group was contacted by Woodbridge Hall and will also participate.
“For many of us, 9/11 was one of the most wrenching or tragic experiences we’ve experienced in our lifetimes on a nation-wide scale,” Brandon Levin said. “I think the vigil will bring together the entire Yale community and members from the City of New Haven uniting us [and] affirming our ability as a community to come together to offer support, strength, but also look to the future.”
United Way of Greater New Haven spokesperson Kathy Hart-Jones said she hopes the afternoon philanthropy event will “revive the unified spirit that was felt around the nation 10 years ago” by providing ways for volunteers to give back.
At the Yale Divinity School, a 60-foot mural entitled “The Day” painted by Gregory Etchison in honor of 9/11 victims, and acquired three years ago by Gerald Facciani ’13 M.Div. and his wife, is on display in the Old Common Room.
“It reminds us of the concerns and prayers we had on that day, victims and the rest of us that had to reorganize ourselves in all sorts of ways,” Divinity School Dean Harold Attridge said. “We hope that the mural will give us an opportunity to do that, attempt to remember.”
A full schedule for the day can be found on the Yale Daily Bulletin, OPAC and city of New Haven websites, as well as on the YCC-sponsored Facebook event.