A 15-foot willow oak now stands in Battery Park's Labyrinth of Contemplation, the first of 3,000 trees a new national campaign plans to plant across the country in honor of the 2,977 people killed in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. The project began with the Battery Park tree planting on September 9, 2026, marking the launch of the “Together We Grow” initiative just as the nation approaches the 25th anniversary of the attacks.
The Labyrinth of Contemplation itself carries its own history: the space was originally commissioned in 2002 for the first anniversary of 9/11 and has only recently reopened following waterfront restoration work, according to Good News Instead. As The Cool Down reported, the campaign's math is deliberate — 3,000 trees planted to represent each life lost, with the goal of creating living tributes nationwide over the course of a year-long campaign.
The campaign is a joint effort between the nonprofit 9/11 Day, the reforestation group One Tree Planted, and AmeriCorps, which are supporting communities that want to take part. One Tree Planted's president described the project as bringing communities together to care for shared places and create something living for future generations, per the same reporting from The Cool Down. The organization's president added a simpler framing for why a tree was chosen as the symbol: “A tree is a simple but powerful symbol of that remembrance. It gives us a chance to honor the past while doing something good for the future.”
A Campaign Built on 9/11 Day's Founding Story
9/11 Day, the nonprofit that launched Together We Grow alongside One Tree Planted, was founded in 2002 by David Paine and Jay Winuk. Winuk's brother, Glenn Winuk, was an attorney and volunteer firefighter who died in the line of duty during rescue efforts at the World Trade Center, according to the National September 11 Memorial & Museum. That personal loss helped shape a movement built on turning a day of tragedy into a day of charitable service.
September 11 has carried federal weight as a service day since Congress adopted the bipartisan Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act in 2009, and President Barack Obama later amended the Patriot Day proclamation to officially designate September 11 as a National Day of Service and Remembrance. Per Wikipedia's entry on the September 11 National Day of Service, it is one of only two federally authorized national days of service, alongside Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The designation has since drawn more than 35 million Americans annually, making it the largest single day of charitable engagement in the country's history.
Rooted in the Legacy of the Survivor Tree
Together We Grow's living-memorial concept traces back to the original “Survivor Tree,” a Callery pear recovered from the Ground Zero rubble in October 2001. The tree was nursed back to health by the NYC Parks Department and replanted at the World Trade Center Memorial Plaza in 2010, according to 911GroundZero. It remains the only living plant on the plaza that predates the attacks.
Since 2013, the National September 11 Memorial & Museum's Survivor Tree Seedling Program has sent direct offspring of that Callery pear to communities marked by trauma, including Orlando, Florida, following the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting, as reported by WFTV. Seedlings have also gone to sites in France and California, extending the tree's symbolism well beyond New York.
A Year-Long Effort That Depends on Local Care
Together We Grow's stated goal also includes 1 million related acts of service tied to the tree plantings, honoring each life lost in the attacks. Its success, organizers note, depends on continued care of the planted trees long after the ceremonies end — a point the campaign's backers have emphasized as plantings expand beyond the flagship New York site.
One Tree Planted, now led by CEO Hank Lynch, brings significant operational scale to the effort. The organization supported the planting of more than 51.9 million trees across 72 countries in 2023 alone, according to a funder profile from Hinchilla. Beyond their symbolic weight, trees planted through the campaign are expected to provide shade, support cleaner air, and make parks, memorials, and public spaces more welcoming to visitors.
The 25th anniversary of 9/11 has brought a wave of coordinated service projects nationwide, with 9/11 Day setting a goal of generating 1 million good deeds; the broader effort includes packing more than 17 million meals for local food pantries. Tree memorials tied to 9/11 have already taken root outside New York; Las Vegas has received a seedling from the World Trade Center Survivor Tree.
