Preparations Underway for 2nd Annual 9-11 Memorial Stair Climb

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This story was featured in the Salina311 Newspaper. Subscribe To The Paper

Final preparations are underway as the Salina Fire Department and the City of Salina get ready for the 2nd Annual Central Kansas 9-11 Memorial Stair Climb and 5K Family Fun Walk. This year's event location will be at Kansas Wesleyan University, JRI Hospitality Stadium on Saturday, September 09, 2023. The 5K walk will circle the KWU campus.

The Central Kansas 9-11 Memorial Stair Climb & Family Fun Walk is a way to honor and remember the FDNY firefighters who selflessly gave their lives so that others might live on September 11, 2001. Each participant pays tribute to the FDNY firefighters by climbing or walking the equivalent of the 110 stories of the World Trade Center. Your tribute not only remembers the sacrifice of an FDNY member but also symbolically completes their heroic journey to save others. Through firefighters and community participation, we can ensure that each of the 343 firefighters is honored, and that the world knows that we will never forget. Since then, another 306 firefighters, emergency service technicians, officers, and paramedics have died from diseases they contracted from working the smoking pile of metal, glass, and rubble at the World Trade Center site.

The Central Kansas 9-11 Memorial Stair Climb & Family Fun Walk is not a timed race event, but a way for the community, firefighters, police officers, EMS personnel, families, and friends to honor and remember. All participants will honor the fallen by carrying the name badge of one of the 343 firefighters and will also receive a 9-11 Stair Climb & Family Fun Walk t-shirt to commemorate the event.

All proceeds will benefit the FDNY Counseling Services Unit, and the programs provided by the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation (501(c)(3) which have provided much-needed assistance to the surviving families and co-workers of the firefighters who made the ultimate sacrifice on September 11, 2001.

There will also be a variety of sponsorship opportunities available as well. There will also be an after-event reception, featuring food, music, and much more. The details are underway, but not confirmed as of now. There are plans to bring in an incredibly special guest for this year's event. Hopefully, that becomes a reality.

Last year, of the fifty nationwide 9-11 Memorial Stair Climbs, the Inaugural Central Kansas event ranked 15th in net funds raised with a total of $25,875.00, thanks to so many participants and sponsors. Way to go Salina! As more information becomes formalized, details will be publicized.

Here is Salina311's article from the 2022 9-11 Stair Climb.