1,500 Volunteers to Participate...
Walks for Heroes in Honor of 9/11 

Council on Rural Services is proud to announce that it has received a grant from the Ohio Commission on Service and Volunteerism to support its participation in the September 11th Day of Service and Remembrance through a project entitled Walks for Heroes: 9/11 Day of Service and Remembrance on Monday, September 12th. 

In honor of the tenth anniversary of the tragic events of September 11th, nearly 1,500 students and volunteers across nine counties in western Ohio will come together to create tribute posters and other tokens of thanks for local first responders, including local police officers and firefighters.  

Projects will take place on Monday, September 12th, from 9 to 10 a.m. and from 2 to 3 p.m. at locations throughout Auglaize, Champaign, Darke, Greene, Logan, Miami, Preble, Shelby, and Van Wert Counties.  (A link to the complete list of locations with project times is below.) Volunteers are needed to make the project a success.  To sign up for a volunteer shift, visit www.handsonwestcentralohio.org and click on the link at the right side of the page.  All volunteers should be at least 15 years old. 

The purpose of this project is to provide a positive and forward-looking way for area residents, including children not yet born during the event itself, and others to forever honor and remember the 9/11 victims, survivors, and the many that rose in service in response to the 9/11 tragedy, including first responders, recovery workers, volunteers, public safety officers and members of our military.  

Programs participating in the project including children from Kids Learning Place, youth from Gateway Youth Programs, service members from the newly launched AmeriCorps for Entrepreneurial Success, and HandsOn West Central Ohio volunteers serving through the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program.  All programs are a part of Council on Rural Services. 

“Our goal is to encourage youth to come together, to be of help, and to show them how even our local heroes are making a difference through their everyday service to others,” says Shirley Hathaway, Executive Director of Council on Rural Services.  “We hope to inspire a renewed sense of patriotism, one that many of us as adults felt immediately following the intense personal experience of 9/11 itself.”   

For more information about our programs, visit www.councilonruralservices.org or call 937-778-5220. To volunteer for this project or others, visit www.handsonwestcentralohio.org.  Council on Rural Services provides education, support, and volunteer services in our nine county service area through Kids Learning Place™, Head Start, Early Head Start, Gateway Youth Programs, and HandsOn West Central Ohio.   Follow activities for the organization online at any of the agency’s Facebook pages: www.facebook.com/councilonruralservices, www.facebook.com/handsonwestcentralohio, www.facebook.com/gatewayyouthprograms, and www.facebook.com/AmeriCorpsforEntrepreneurialSuccess. To learn more about the 9/11 Day of Service and Remembrance and national efforts to support this event, visit www.911day.org. 

To see locations in Darke County and elsewhere, click here.