Victory Life Academy hosted a 9/11 memorial service to honor emergency responders and to teach their students the history of that day when terrorists attacked the World Trade Center Towers in New York City, the Pentagon and another plane which crashed in a field in Pennsylvania before it could reach the third target, thanks to the crew and passengers on board. A total of 2,996 people were killed that day, September 11, 2001, including 411 emergency responders.
Victory Life Academy Coach and organizer Rick Phelps opened the ceremony with a reading of the history of 9/11, citing the thousands that died that day, including hundreds of emergency responders and how an ordinary day turned so tragic. Phelps pointed out that most of these students were not even born when 9/11 happened and do not have memories of that terrible day.Speakers included Early City Administrator Tony Aaron, Brown County Sheriff’s Chief Deputy Vance Hill and Victory Life Church pastor Stan Roberts.
Aaron spoke of the heroes and what it takes to be a hero, “Heroes are not born in a moment, they are crafted over a lifetime.” He explained that everyone is capable of being a hero, of doing extraordinary things in times of adversity or trial.
“The character you live by and the example you follow, gives you the potential to be a hero,” said Aaron. “You don’t have to look at television, or the media, or music, to movies, or social media for examples to live by. Look to each other, look at the people next to you. Look side to side. Look at your teachers, look at the first responders over here. Look to your pastor, but most importantly look to Jesus Christ.”
Hill spoke of living through the day it happened, how horrific this event was and realizing that a new generation would grow up to wonder “when will the United States of America will be attacked again?” He stated that he had similar fears growing up after the Vietnam War had happened. He thought about his parents which were children around the times of World War II and then his great grandparents who had been born during World War I and fought during World War II.
“It looks like every generation will have some conflict to overcome. In thinking about these conflicts, it has always been good against evil and God against the Devil,” said Hill. “We must continue to teach the word of God, to say our prayers and to get our prayers back into public schools… to reassure us that God is on our side and will help us to win the battle of good against evil.”
Emergency responders in attendance were recognized as the ceremony was ending, including firefighters, emergency medical personnel, and law enforcement.
Pastor Roberts spoke of how people become heroes in time of need. He also thanked first responders for attending the ceremony and for their service.
“We don’t know what tomorrow brings, but we do hold this truth in our hearts – that you, our first responders will be there to help, to protect us and save lives by putting your own lives in danger. You are not asking for recognition, you don’t even ask for times like this, we asked you to come,” said Roberts. “We want to thank you for allowing us to honor you today. We want to thank you for demonstrating to our young students that credit should be given where credit is due and we want to thank you so much.”
Pictured above, younger VLA students respectfully recited the Pledge of Allegiance and sang the National Anthem. Below are more photos of the service.
First responders present were recognized during the service.
Tony Aaron spoke of what makes a hero.
BCSO Chief Deputy Vance Hill encouraged those in attendance to continue to fight the battle of good against evil.
