Aiming to bring hope, healing and strength to neighbors struck by tragedy, the September 11 Memorial and Museum is sending seedlings from their "Survivor Tree Program" to communities in Connecticut, Missouri and Spain.
The nonprofit group that runs Manhattan's 9/11 memorial at the World Trade Center sponsors the program, which provides the trees to serve as landmarks they say symbolize resiliency and hope in communities reeling from tragedy.
This year, the group will send seedlings to Newtown, Connecticut, to honor the lives of 20 children and six adults who were killed when a gunman walked into Sandy Hook Elementary School and opened fire in December 2012. Another tree will be sent to Joplin Missouri, where a 2011 tornado claimed more than 150 lives and injured over 1,000 more.
Seedlings sent to Madrid, Spain, to honor the nearly 200 people killed and 1,800 more injured during a 2004 terrorist attack in a commuter rail system, will also mark the first time a community outside the United States will receive the trees since the program started in 2013. Officials say the tree will be planted at Spain's embassy in Washington.
"The Survivor Tree reminds us of our shared strength in the face of unimaginable tragedy. It was in that spirit the seedling program was formed," 9/11 Memorial President Joe Daniels said. "We hope these trees serve as an inspiration to these communities and others who have suffered hardships and are working to recover."
The memorial tree program is sponsored by a Connecticut-based tree company that partners with students at New York City's John Bowne High School to grow the trees.
So far, they've been sent to other parts of New York, Boston, Arizona, Washington, Mississippi and Fort Hood in Texas.
