To Plan A Memorial: Bayside Kiwanis Get To Work

Planning a September 11 memorial ceremony is more complicated than it looks. It takes careful preparation and much discussion to get it just right.
Seven members of the Kiwanis Club of Bayside gathered Wednesday at the First Edition restaurant to put the finishing touches on their September 11 programwhich took place the following Sunday, September 8, next to the memorial tribute wall the Kiwanis sponsors above Baysides Long Island Rail Road stop.
"We wanted to do something public," said Robert Lynch, who is in charge of the tribute. "This will give local residents an arena to publicly express their feelings."
Loretta Napier, another Kiwanis member, noted that the tribute wall had served as an ongoing cathartic vehicle for Baysiders. "People love it," she said. "They still come and stand and look at the [written] tributes. A woman comes and changes the flowers daily."
Seated at a long table beneath an enormous inflatable football and an orange surfboard, the group bantered easily with one another as they prepared to start the meeting.
"We have to advertise, spread the word," said Club President Linda Skliros, noting a pile of fliers printed in pale reds, whites and blues. "Weve already got them in lots of stores on Bell, and Grace [Schehr of Kellys Car Service] has plastered them inside the cabs."
Lynch said he would make about 200 more of the fliers and others agreed to continue distributing them around the neighborhood. Lynch estimated that about 200 people would come, about 50 more than attended a memorial the Kiwanis sponsored last October.
"Weve got the pipe band," said Lynch. "And the Boy Scouts will raise the flag."
The group had already approached a number of members of the local clergy, and three had responded to say they were coming. "We basically invited everyone we could think of," said Lynch of the push to draw in the local religious community. At the time of the meeting, a rabbi and two priests had said they would come and lead prayers at the beginning of the ceremony.
The subject of the clergy raised the issue of who would be speaking at the ceremony, which in turn led the group to begin sharing stories about people they knew who had lost loved ones in the disaster. Lynch said he was hoping one of his friends would feel able to address the ceremony. He said he was in the process of getting Joseph Miccio, a firefighter and the president of the United Firefighters Association, and his own brother, Patrick Lynch, head of the Policemans Benevolent Association, to speak as well.
"What about the politicians," asked Skliros. Lynch said some might be coming but none would speak. "Id rather make it non-political," said Skliros. "Its an election year," added another member. "I dont want this thing to be hijacked."
After that, the group discussed event parking, the sound system and the possibility of purchasing small American flags to hand out.
In the beginning of October, the Kiwanis plan to take down the tribute wall, with its outpouring of written messages of support.
Perhaps the ceremony and the dismantling of the wall will provide some small kind of closure for Baysiders after this long year of sorrow.