Remembering 911...

That was something I made a couple weeks after the attacks of September 11, 2001. At the time I was a kitchen designer at Home Depot in a location just north of Boston on Route 1. My shift started at 9:00 am, and as usual I was in the employee locker room getting ready to go to my area, when I saw the first report of a plane striking the World Trade Center in New York. The reporters had little information at the time and initially thought it was a small private plane of some kind. Shortly proven wrong when the second jet struck in full view of the cameras.
 I went to my department and told a couple folks who were already there. Within just a few minutes others were talking about it too, it was so surreal. The store cleared out pretty much completely as the customers were heading home to be with their loved ones. All you could hear were the sirens going down route one to Logan Airport. The two planes that struck the World Trade Center had departed from Boston a short time earlier.
 I for one will never forget what happened that day, but I was also amazed at the way our country responded. That was quite inspiring.
 American Flags starting being displayed almost immediately, and this patriotism spread rapidly. President George W. Bush did a remarkable job I feel in both consoling and inspiring the country in what must now be the new way we live.
 When I created the idea for the advertisement, I presented to my store Manager at the Home Depot. I sat down with him and explained




my idea of having all the stores within the company be sources of donation for the many. many victims' families whose life had changed that day for eternity. I felt it was something that would be pretty straight forward to set up, and hopefully in the end could allow for some sort of comfort for the families whose lives were torn apart. We talked for about an hour. I gave hime the print outs and he assured me he would show it to the proper people. He was reassigned to another store the next day, and I never heard from him again. We were always encouraged to present any ideas we had to the store manager, but when they transfer so quickly it leaves little room for an idea to grow.


I redid the ad a couple years later and geared towards the Homeless Veteran's places. Years before I had done some volunteer work with a person that was a vendor of mine. He was spear-heading a shelter

for Homeless Viet Nam veterans in the Boston area. They had a van and would search the streets on cold winter nights as well. If you out and homeless, they would pick you up and take you to their shelter. They help many people all through the year. I still believe that we can help both the families that were devasted by the horrific events of September 11, 2001, as well reach out to so many of the Veteran's groups. It will be more of a focus this coming year for the Deanna Cremin Memorial Foundation. Please, never forget.