FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Michelle Robbins
mrobbins@amfor.org
202/737.1944 x203

Officials from American Forests and the U.S. Forest Service on Friday presented a check for $250,000 to the Pentagon Memorial Fund to plant and maintain 92 paperbark maples at the memorial’s site in Arlington, Virginia. The memorial honors the memory of the 184 men, women, and children who died at the Pentagon on September 11, 2001.

The check was presented during a tour of the construction site at which it was announced the memorial is one year from completion.

“Trees are universal signs of life and hope,” Executive Director Deborah Gangloff said in making the presentation to Jim Laychak, president of the Pentagon Memorial Fund. “They provide a lasting place for us to reflect on our memories, and their growth gives us hope for the future. American Forests has championed the value of trees as memorials since World War I.”

The Pentagon Memorial park will include 184 memorials, each dedicated to a victim and organized as a timeline by that person’s age. Lighted pools of water, cantilevered benches, and nearby trees will “provide an experience in the park that is touching and moving, one that creates a place of peace and remembrance, and allows for individual interpretation by each visitor.”

The Pentagon memorial was designed by Keith Kaseman and Julie Beckman of Kaseman Beckman Amsterdam Studio in New York City. A jury of design professionals and architects, family members, and Washington dignitaries selected the design from more than 1,100 submissions. The Pentagon Memorial was the first of the three national 9/11 memorials to be dedicated in this country.

American Forests’ mission is to grow a healthier world with trees. Our community-based initiatives help people plan and implement local actions that restore and maintain healthy ecosystems and communities. Our work encompasses tree planting, urban forestry, environmental education, and community-based forestry. AMERICAN FORESTS is on the World Wide Web at www.americanforests.org.

The Pentagon Memorial Fund is a nonprofit organization established by the families of the 184 victims of the September 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks in Washington, DC. The Memorial Fund's mission is to provide for the construction and permanent maintenance of the Pentagon Memorial, a beautiful park located at the grounds of the attack that will provide a place for reflection, remembrance, and renewal. For more information about the Pentagon Memorial Please visit www.pentagonmemorial.net.