9/11 Memorial Observation Incorporates Civic Participation Week

Madison's commemoration of 9/11 will include a memorial service and a Civic Participation week that will provide both organizations and individuals with the opportunity to pitch in to make Madison a better place.

Pam McKinnon, who is helping to organize the Civic Participation Week, said it will be an opportunity for those organizations and individuals to "do something positive." The project was originally scheduled to take place after Sept. 11, but McKinnon and town officials decided to move it up after Tropical Storm Irene hit the area, leaving much work to be done around town.

Letters have been sent out to about 25 or 30 groups in town, encouraging them to find a project to do during that week, she said during a Board of Selectmen meeting Monday evening. 

"Sit down with your children, ask them what they'd like to do for the community, do something positive, pull a weed, pick up some trash," she said. "Please participate."

To find out more, please contact Pam at 203-640-2629.

Several town organizations also plan to conduct a food drive for the Madison Food Pantry, she said.

McKinnon said the work will be done in commemoration of four people from Madison who were killed on Sept. 11, 2001 when terrorists hijacked four planes, including two that hit the World Trade Center, one that hit the Pentagon outside Washington, D.C., and a fourth that crashed in a field in Pennsylvania.

The four people who will be commemorated are:

• Dianne Bullis Snyder, 42, who was a flight attendant on American Airlines Flight 11. She grew up in Madison, attended Daniel Hand High School and lived in Westport, MA.

• Peter Girard Gelinas, 34, grew up in Madison, lived in Bronxville, NY and worked in the World Trade Center.

• Anthony Demas, 61, managing director of Aon Corporation in World Trade Center, had a weekend home in Madison and was known for driving his 1960 Mercedes convertible in the Fourth of July parade.

• Robert Peraza, 30, originally from Madison, was a broker at Cantor Fitzgerald in the World Trade Center. 

Snyder, Gelinas, Demas, and Peraza are also commemorated in the James Madison Memorial Garden by the town green.