9/11 Remembrance Service Project on Ellis Island, Volunteer Opportunity with The Mission Continues

September 2019 | Ellis Island, NY

by Alicia Washington, Yale Community Connect Volunteer & Vu Nguyen, The Mission Continues Senior City Impact Manager

Alicia Washington represented YC Connect at this event. The Mission Continues frequently organizes volunteer opportunities and events in the NYC area, and we would love to get more Yale Community Connect representation! 

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From Vu: As a reminder of what we accomplished during the day of service, we had 121 volunteers on site that helped complete over 480 hours of total combined service and we were able to build 3 picnic tables, put a fresh coat of paint on handrails in front of Ferry Slip, build 18 tables for an educational space, remove old IT equipment and furniture to create the educational space, weed and revitalize Fort Gibson, remove over 10 bags of weeds from the main building, mulch over 30 trees around the main building, weed and clear invasive species from the B&D building courtyard, mulch over 20 trees on the south side of the island, paint four public-facing window sills at the New Ferry Building, and fill over 200 sandbags. The National Parks Service is very grateful for your service on Saturday and hopes to have us back again. Special shout out to our sponsors and partners at Fox Sports, ESPN, and Goldman Sachs for making the day possible.

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If you’d like to see pictures from the event, please check out the album that was uploaded to our NYC Platoons Facebook page. And, if you didn’t get a chance to see it on Saturday, we were also featured on Fox 5 NY for our work that afternoon. You can check out the clip that aired here.

Thanks again to volunteers for joining us to help protect and preserve one of the most iconic places in the world that symbolizes freedom and hope and for working alongside veterans that continue serving our great nation. I look forward to seeing you at another The Mission Continues event.

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From Alicia: Alicia shared that it was very meaningful to work alongside veterans of the US Armed Forces to help beautify Ellis Island, a place that is so important to so many Americans.

President Obama tweeted about the event: