Friday, October 28, 2011

What is the 9/11 Patch Project?

From a banner displayed at the end of the "Thank You America Tour," to the sleeves of thousands of firefighters across the nation. The 9-11 Patch Project was established December of 2001, to remember the heroes of 9/11 and raise funds for the families of the heroes lost on 9/11.

The idea was to unite firefighters around the world and honor the memory of our fallen brothers by adding the 9/11 Tribute Patches to all uniforms. Fliers were sent out to all fire departments across the nation in February of 2002 and in the following months, hundreds of departments across the nation began ordering the patches and putting them on their uniforms, job-shirts, jackets or turnouts. By the 1st year anniversary of 9/11 (09-11-02) $15,000 was raised selling $3 patches, and donated to the FDNY's Uniformed Fire Officers Association.

Then pictures were sent in of firefighters from other countries that purchased the patches and put them on their uniforms. Pictures were also sent in of U.S. Military personnel deployed overseas in Iraq and Afghanistan, also wearing the 9/11 Patches. The project had crossed our borders and circumvented the globe--everyone wanted to participate.

With U.S. Soldiers and even Police Officers participating, the project introduced a 2nd 9/11 Tribute Patch at the 5 year anniversary of 9/11, called the "Three Heroes Patch." Even though the project was initiated by a firefighter who was responding to the loss of 343 of his fellow firefighters, the project grew to include and remember all Public Safety and U.S. Military personnel.

With the goal of the project to get the 9/11 Tribute Patches on all uniforms, the 9-11 Patch Project teamed up with the 9-11 Rose Float and FireCareers.com to take the project on a cross country fundraising, fellowship and recruitment tour. The 9-11 Rose Float, featured in the Pasadena Tournament of Roses Parade on 01/01/11, passed the NEVER FORGET torch to the 10 Yr 9/11 Manhattan to Manhattan Tour on 01/27/11 at Manhattan Beach Fire Department. The tour embarked on what would be a 16000 mile journey across the U.S. over 9 months, through 35 States, making 175 hosted stops. The funds raised on the tour were donated on 9/19/11.

Getting the 9/11 Tribute Patches on every public safety and U.S. Military uniform or other official/un offical clothing remains one of the goals of the project. All net proceeds will continue to be donated. Over the past 10 years, 2 mailers about the project have been sent to every FD in the nation. Some were ignored, others disregarded as junk mail and many, acted upon. Please introduce this project to your organization and join over 8000 organizations around the world in making these 9/11 Tribute Patches a permanent part of your uniform. Order the patches HERE

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Keeping the 9/11 Patch Project Open

The 9/11 Patch Project was established December of 2001 to help keep the memory of our fallen 9/11 Heroes alive. The objectives of the project are to raise funds though the sale of the special 9/11 Patches, Decals and Pins as well as recruit Fire, EMS, Police and U.S. Military to place the patches on their uniforms or other clothing and/or apply the decals to their vehicles or apparatus.

To date, over 8000 organizations in 25 countries are represented by either wearing one of the patches or displaying one of the decals.

All the net proceeds from the sale of patches and decals have been donated to as many as 10 different non profit organizations. The latest three non profit's to benefit from the project are the NYC Bravest Scholarship Fund, Terry Farrell Fund and the Feal Good Foundation. Each of them recently received $6300 each.

Since the 10 year mark has passed us by, sales from the project have slowed to a crawl. Unless sales and interest in the project picks up, the project will be forced to close down on its' 10 year anniversary, December 15th, 2011. I am asking for everyone's help to keep this project going another 10 years. If you want to see the project remain open and the work of the 9/11 Patch Project continue, please contribute in any of the following ways:

1. 9/11 WALL: For only $9.11, you or your organization can be added to the 9/11 WALL of supporters and show your support publicly.

2. Make a larger donation from our DONATIONS page and also be added to the 9/11 WALL.

3. Order Patches & Decals from our ORDER page

4. Share the link to our homepage to as many of your friends and family as possible: http://9-11patchproject.org

I want to thank all of you who have continued to support the project all these years and hope that you can continue to support the project by making a donation, ordering from our store or passing on the link to our website. Thanks in advance for what you are willing to do to help keep the project open past December 15th, 2011