This year marks the 25th anniversary of the attacks of September 11, 2001. Americans will never forget where they were that day. The world seemed to stop, and lives were changed forever. 
 
Spirit of America was created as a response to 9/11, to harness the generosity of Americans who want to do their part in protecting our country and prevent another attack.  

In honor of this year’s anniversary, the Spirit of America team reflects on what the day means to them. For two members of our International Operations team, the day inspired them to enlist in the U.S. military. Two other team members are part of a new generation who never experienced 9/11 or were too young to remember it. But for each, 9/11 has inspired them to remember, engage, and unite in working to make America — and our world — a better and safer place. 

Terrell Chandler – Acting Regional Director, Asia-Pacific

Terrell Chandler stands in front of the Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force-Afghanistan (CJSOTF-A) memorial in Camp Vance, Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, 2018. The memorial is dedicated to its fallen servicemembers killed in Operation Enduring Freedom.

Twenty-five years ago, I was just a freshman in high school. I had no idea that one day would end up shaping the entire trajectory of my life. I still remember it like it was yesterday, and I will never forget the people it brought into my life or the ones whose lives were cut short because of it. What I remember just as much as the loss is how the whole country came together after. Strangers helping strangers, people lining up to give blood, neighbors checking on neighbors. I watched ordinary people decide they could do something. That has always stuck with me.

In 2008 I joined the Navy. It felt like the right fit at the time, though years later, after my grandma passed and I was cleaning out her house, I found an old photo of my grandpa in his Navy uniform. Turns out it was in my blood all along. 

I deployed to Afghanistan in 2014, a long way from that high school freshman who watched the towers fall. Wearing the uniform taught me what service really means. But it also taught me something else, that the government can’t do everything alone. In 2018 I went back to Afghanistan, this time in a different uniform, one with the Spirit of America patch instead of the Navy’s. Some of the most consequential things happen when ordinary people see a problem, decide they have a role to play, and act. That is ultimately what brought me to Spirit of America. For me, it has been a way to continue serving without the uniform, while giving other Americans a way to serve too.  

Twenty-five years later, I keep coming back to that same idea: action is an antidote to hopelessness. You don’t have to wear a uniform or work in the government to contribute. You don’t need a title to care about what happens in the world. Remembering matters, but remembering should also ask something of us. For me, the best way I know to honor that day is to keep acting and to make sure the next generation understands their power to do the same. 

Chris White – Regional Director, Africa 

Chris White serving in the Anbar Province, Iraq, in 2005

September 11 rushed my decision, but I always knew I would serve. I watched the attacks from the couch of my dorm room at The College of William & Mary. People came and went between classes and trips to the cafeteria. We stared at the small TV and VHS combo. I remember every door in the hall being open and everyone waiting for explanations from Tom Brokaw and Peter Jennings on the screens. 

I was one year into an Army ROTC program. A year later I enlisted in the Marine Corps Reserve as an amphibious assault vehicle crewman. “Great. Now you will be qualified to drive the duck boats,” said one of my family members. Those multicolored tourist wagons were enjoying the height of their popularity in my native Boston. In my family, this is how we show affection. I knew he was proud of me.   

I left school for Parris Island in 2003, right as Jim Hake was founding Spirit of America. In 2005 I deployed to Anbar Province, Iraq, a well-trained but in many ways clueless amphibious assault crew chief attached to 3rd Battalion 25th Marines. I operated my “duck boat” from Hit and Hadithah west to al-Qaim and the Syrian border, trying to disrupt an entrenched insurgency and the movement of foreign fighters and weapons through the Euphrates River valley. Al-Qaeda in Iraq was rapidly expanding. It was a violent time in the war.   

It is impossible to describe how much this deployment impacted my life and career. It would turn out to be the first of many public service jobs in conflict settings. One thing from the experience that I try to carry with me everywhere: a heavy dose of humility in pursuing America’s national security. We Americans can arrive with big ideas, big resources, and great confidence. But our most useful role is often standing behind local leaders and local organizations who share our interests and incentives, helping them succeed on their own terms. That ethic is a big part of what brought me to Spirit of America. We show up, listen, and find creative, practical ways to help solve problems. That feels like a pretty good way for America to operate in the world. 

Valentina Fala – Communications Coordinator

Valentina at the 9/11 Memorial pools in New York City. 

I was born two years after September 11, 2001. I did not witness the attacks. I did not watch the towers fall in real time. I did not grow up in the United States. Yet every year when the day comes, I find myself watching videos, listening to stories, and asking others: “What were you doing on 9/11?” 

It is the only way I can get a true understanding of what it meant to be there and watch the world change in real-time. For others it is a memory, for me it is history. There is a difference between learning about loss and living through it. 

This event crossed generations. 9/11 resonates in my heart as much as it resonates beyond the borders of the United States. 

I haven’t experienced a single terrorist attack in my life, and I am beyond grateful for it. The sacrifices made by Americans and our partners in the years after 9/11 speak of bravery and the relentless freedom that can’t be chained. 

To remember 9/11 is not only to remember sorrow. It is to remember the people who came together and advanced forward when the whole world froze. It is to remember that even in the darkest moments, the best of people can shine through. 

Joseph Tefera – Senior Data Processing Associate 

Joe visiting the White House in 2023. 

I don’t have a personal memory of September 11, 2001. For my generation, 9/11 is something we grew up understanding through the stories of those who experienced it, the images we have seen, and the lasting impact it had on the country and the world around us. In some ways, not remembering the day makes listening to those stories even more important. They remind us that behind an event we learned about in history books were real people, families, communities, and lives that changed forever.

As younger generations carry the memory of 9/11 forward, I believe our responsibility is not only to remember what happened, but also to understand the courage, sacrifice, unity, and humanity that emerged in its aftermath.