2017 Survivor Tree Seedling Recipients Announced

Manchester, Charleston and Haiti — three otherwise disparate communities all recently impacted by violence or extreme destruction — have been honored by the 9/11 Memorial & Museum with the offering of Survivor Tree seedlings. The three communities have committed to nurturing these trees to serve as inspiring landmarks symbolizing resiliency and hope.

“The Survivor Tree embodies the strength and resilience demonstrated by our nation after the September 11, 2001, attacks,” 9/11 Memorial & Museum President Alice M. Greenwald said. “The seedlings distributed through this annual program provide hope and the promise of renewal to communities that have endured unimaginable hardship and suffering like Manchester, Charleston and Haiti.”

In Manchester, 22 people, including young adults and children, were killed in a bombing at an Ariana Grande concert. In Charleston, nine parishioners were killed in a shooting at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church during evening worship.

In October 2016, Hurricane Matthew struck Haiti, leading to more than 1,000 deaths and causing overwhelming destruction throughout the country. The Embassy of Haiti in Washington, D.C. will accept the Survivor Tree seedling on behalf of its country.

The Survivor Tree has become a symbol of the nation’s spirit of hope and healing as well as strength and resilience in the wake of the 2001 attacks. The tree got its name after it was nursed back to health when it was pulled from World Trade Center rubble. It was later replanted at the 9/11 Memorial.

In September 2013, the Memorial began the tree seedling distribution program in partnership with Stamford, Conn.-based Bartlett Tree Experts, which donates its resources to support the program, and John Bowne High School in the Flushing neighborhood of Queens, cares for the seedlings as part of the school’s agriculture curriculum. 

By 9/11 Memorial Staff