Verona Flagmakers Lend a Hand to Mend a Piece of American History

In the expansive basement of the Annin & Company Flagmakers building in Verona, a quartet of seamstresses are meticulously stitching together pieces of an American treasure, the very creation of which embodies the spirit of America.

The National 9/11 Flag is, for now, a patchwork of sewn together remnants of a 20x30-foot flag, which was badly damaged after it was hung on scaffolding at Ground Zero in the days following the Sept. 11 terror attacks. And recently, it has been been brought to sites of devastation and tragedy from coast-to-coast as a beacon of hope and unity, even in the darkest of times.

The flag is in the custody of the New York Says Thank You Foundation, which has over the last two years seen the flag repaired by hundreds of people using pieces of other flags that bore witness to tragedy, one stitch at a time.

The foundation rose from the ashes of the Sept. 11 attacks with a mission to express gratitude to communities that pitched in following the attacks, and help other communities rebuild from their own disasters. The group made their way to Greensburg, Kan., in 2007, which had been devastated by a tornado on May 4 of that year, killing 12 and leaving 95 percent of the town in ruins.

In October 2008, the foundation returned to Greensburg to help raise a 14,000 square-foot barn to be used as a show pavilion for the county fair. It was there that the initiative to repair the flag was born.

Greensburg residents asked Parness if he could obtain metal from the wreckage of Ground Zero to use as a monument to the tornado.

Charlie Vitchers, a foreman at the Ground Zero cleanup effort, reached out to Parness, and told him about the flag, which he had kept for six years since the attacks.

The flag was dropped off at a retirement home in Greensburg, where the residents stitched pieces of flags that had survived the tornado into the fabric of the flag.

Jeff Parness, Founder and Chairman of the New York Says Thank You Foundation, has been traveling the country with the 20x30-foot flag ever since, giving victims of tragedies the opportunity to add their own pieces to the flag.

Since its debut appearance in Greensburg, the flag has brought comfort and hope to countless others with more "stitching ceremonies", and has since become a symbol of the durability of the American spirit.

"The flag represents the best of what America is all about," Parness said.

"Not just American values but people acting on them. People doing something no matter how big or small to make things better. By the shear act of taking a needle to thread and making one stitch to make this terrible day transform into something positive and hopeful going forward, I think it's the very best of humanity and the best of what this country is all about."

The National 9/11 Flag has been seen at memorial services for Cantor Fitzgerald, the financial services company that lost 658 employees in the Twin Towers, and was hoisted high at the funeral of Christina-Taylor Green, the 9-year-old girl born on Sept. 11, 2001 who was shot and killed in the attack on Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords outside a Tucson, Ariz. supermarket on Jan. 8.

The flag will continue its whirlwind tour, having stitches added along the way by military veterans, Wounded Warriors, emergency first responders, teachers, school children and Sept. 11 victims' family members. It will periodically return to Annin for repairs as it continues its tour as a symbol of how anything can be accomplished when Americans pull together.

Bob Caggiano, Vice President of Annin, said the company is "absolutely thrilled" to be part of the repair effort.

"It's part of Americana. It's a healing of America one stitch at a time. We're really thrilled to play a role in this."

After the flag's long journey, which Parness said will include all 50 states, it will be added to the permanent collection of the National September 11th Memorial Museum being built at the World Trade Center.

"At the end of the day, it's not about fabric, it's about the process of people coming together to help each other," said Parness.

This weekend, the flag will make its way to Milford, Pa., where threads from the American Flag that decorated Abraham Lincoln's presidential box at Ford's Theater on the night of his assassination will be sewn into it.

Participating in the restoration of the National 9/11 Flag is not limited to those lucky enough to see it in person. For $5, anyone can sponsor a stitch to help complete the flag.

Donations are also being accepted to fund the effort to finish the repairs in time for the 10th anniversary of the attacks. To find out how you can help, visit national911flag.org.