Columbia receives a seed from the 9/11 Survivor Tree to be planted near memorial

From the ashes of the World Trade Center survived one tree that was nurtured back to health and replanted on the grounds as a memorial to the 2,753 lives lost on Sept. 11, 2001. This tree is known as the “Survivor Tree.”

The 9/11 Remembrance Foundation of South Carolina held a ceremony Monday at 11 a.m. at the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center to receive a sapling from the tree.

“We are honored to receive this donation of a Survivor Tree on behalf of South Carolina Midlands. It is a great honor to be among numerous cities across the United States to memorialize the fallen in the Sept. 11 attacks. We hope that this tree will continue to remind our community and help us embody ‘We Must Never Forget,” said Daniel Hennigan, founder and chairman of the remembrance foundation.

Through John Feal with the Feal Good Foundation that fights for first responders’ rights, Cherie and Tom Resta were given the tree in Long Island, N.Y.

Tom Resta, who lost his brother and sister-in-law in the Sept. 11 attacks, and his wife, Cherie Faircloth-Resta, presented the survivor tree sapling in Columbia. The tree will be planted close to the Midlands First Responders and Military Service Members Memorial on the convention center grounds.

The Restas began looking for a worthy spot to plant the tree on the East Coast and met Hennigan. They decided to plant the tree near the new Wall of Remembrance and Midlands First Responders and Military Service Members Memorial that was erected in 2010 out of steel beams from the fallen World Trade Center.

In 2017, Mother Emanuel AME in Charleston received a survivor tree in memory of the 9 people who were killed in a church shooting that year. More than 400 saplings have been given to honorary recipients from the original tree, according to Resta.

The original Survivor Tree at Ground Zero was found beaten, but upright after the attack on the World Trade Center. The NYC Parks and Recreation Department took the tree from the rubble and rehabilitated it. In 2010, the Survivor tree was replanted, and the 9/11 Memorial began the seedling program in 2013.

The tree “stands as a living reminder of resilience, survival, and rebirth,” according to the 9/11 Memorial.

This story was originally published November 9, 2020 at 12:34 PM.