Remembering 9/11 Through Pro Bono Service
Originally published on the Taproot Foundation's Pro Bono Junkie Blog
By Billy Moran, recent graduate from St. Lawrence University with a BA in English. Billy participated in 9/11 Skills Service Day by writing this blog pro bono.
September, when warm days and cool nights bring relief to the soupy ends of August weather. The leaves begin to turn and kids go back to school. It is the ending of one thing and the beginning of another. For the last fourteen years it has also been a time of mourning. It is a time when we remember the fateful events that occurred on September 11th.
The human spirit, however, is resilient. And out of such a terrible negative, people feel the need to create positives. Today, fourteen years later, we now revere 9/11 as a day of service. A day when we get away from our busy, early fall and do something positive, serving others. This year, the Taproot Foundation and the organizers of 9/11 Day initiated the first 9/11 Skills Service Day encouraging pro bono service as a high-impact way for business professionals to engage and give back, building hope in our communities. While this campaign aims to engage new skilled-volunteers in marketing, IT, finance, and strategy, there are so many who have been doing this for a very long time. John Kiker’s pro bono story began on September 11, 2001.
John was serving as the Vice President of Marketing Communications for United Airlines at the time of the attacks. His responsibilities included leading a crisis communications team – and coordinating its work with the airline’s humanitarian, operational, and investigative teams – in the event of an accident or other emergency. The communications effort undertaken by his team in the wake of the 9/11 attacks has been cited as being among the most compassionate and comprehensive in the history of the industry.
