Wilmette residents are being invited to mark the 10-year anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks by joining with the Wilmette Interfaith Religious Leaders group as it presents what organizers are calling an evening of remembrance and hope.
The ceremony is scheduled to start at 4 p.m. Sept. 11 on the Village Hall green, 1200 Wilmette Ave., and will feature remarks from Village President Chris Canning and religious leaders.
The commemoration will also recognize the role of first responders and emergency personnel, not just during the attacks, but also in their everyday roles of serving and protecting residents, the Rev. Peg Otte said Monday.
Otte, a pastor at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Wilmette, said, “The focus is that we share, within all our faiths, a story that asks us to remember our past, and that we also hold on to hope. We found that important as our common ground, not only for ourselves but as our nation continues to try to make sense of the tragedy.”
The group also asked Wilmette emergency and police personnel representatives, who have previously held annual commemorations of the attacks, to join in this year’s event, which is titled “CommUnity: Remembering the Past, Envisioning the Future.”
The coalition of interfaith religious leaders has been working on the ceremony since this spring, Otte said.
During the half-hour ceremony on the green, the interfaith group will also announce a project that asks area high school students to write essays on a theme connected with the commemoration. The winning essay will be read at this year’s Community Thanksgiving, scheduled for November, Otte said.
