On a cool September morning in New York's Battery Park, a single 15-foot willow oak was lowered into the soil of the Labyrinth of Contemplation — silent, steady, and patient. It was the first of 3,000 trees a new national campaign called "Together We Grow" plans to plant across the country, one tree for each of the 2,977 people killed in the September 11, 2001 attacks. The planting on September 9, 2026 kicked off the effort just as the nation nears the 25th anniversary of that day.
The Labyrinth of Contemplation is no stranger to remembrance. It was first built in 2002, for the one-year anniversary of 9/11, and has only recently reopened after waterfront restoration work. Now it holds the campaign's first tree — and the math behind the project is deliberate. Three thousand trees, three thousand lives, each one honored with something alive and growing instead of something still and silent.
Together We Grow is a joint effort by three groups: 9/11 Day, a nonprofit founded in 2002 by David Paine and Jay Winuk; One Tree Planted, a reforestation organization; and AmeriCorps, the national service program. The cause is deeply personal for Winuk — his brother, Glenn, an attorney and volunteer firefighter, died during rescue efforts at the World Trade Center. That loss helped shape a movement that turns a day of tragedy into a day of doing good.
September 11 has been a federally recognized day of service since 2009, when Congress passed the bipartisan Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act. President Barack Obama later made it official with a proclamation designating September 11 as a National Day of Service and Remembrance. Today it draws more than 35 million Americans each year, making it the largest single day of charitable engagement in U.S. history — one of only two federal days of service, alongside Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
The tree idea has deep roots of its own. It traces back to the original "Survivor Tree," a Callery pear pulled from the Ground Zero rubble in October 2001)Skip and nursed back to health by the NYC Parks Department. It was replanted at the World Trade Center Memorial Plaza in 2010)Skip and remains the only living plant there that predates the attacks. Since 2013, the Survivor Tree Seedling Program has sent its offspring to communities touched by trauma — including Orlando, Florida, after the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting, and to sites in France and California.
The campaign's reach goes far beyond planting. Together We Grow also aims for 1 million acts of service tied to the trees, honoring each life lost. Its success depends on people caring for the trees long after the ceremonies end. One Tree Planted, led by CEO Hank Lynch, brings real scale — the group supported planting more than 51.9 million trees across 72 countries in 2023 alone. Beyond their symbolism, these trees will offer shade, cleaner air, and more welcoming parks and memorials.
The 25th anniversary has sparked a wave of service nationwide, including packing more than 17 million meals for food pantries. Seedling trees have already rooted in Las Vegas and beyond. As One Tree Planted's president put it: "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."