Forney, Texas – Forney residents Jason McClaren and Shannon Pilgrim are two of the Section Chiefs for the Dallas 9/11 Memorial Stair Climb, an annual, all volunteer event held at the Renaissance Tower in Dallas, Texas. This year's event will be held on September 8, 2012.
Forney, Texas – Forney residents Jason McClaren and Shannon Pilgrim are two of the Section Chiefs for the Dallas 9/11 Memorial Stair Climb, an annual, all volunteer event held at the Renaissance Tower in Dallas, Texas. This year's event will be held on September 8, 2012.
The Dallas Stair Climb is a memorial event allowing a unique way to honor America's vow to “never forget” the terrorists attacks on September 11, 2001. Firefighters from Dallas and all over North Texas will participate in the climb and the event will be open to the public. The firefighter's motto, “We climb because they climbed”, signifies their New York brothers and sisters who died in the line of duty climbing the Trade Center stairs.
Jason McClaren and Event Coordinator, John Barret of The Colony, approached several Dallas area building owners to host the event back in April of 2011. One of the buildings was the Renaissance Tower where Shannon Pilgrim works.
McClaren stated, “Of the five or six buildings we approached last year, only two showed any interest. We then had the task of weighing the pros and cons as to which building would allow us to host the event in a way that would incorporate the symbolic elements that we think are important to the meaning of the climb. After we chose the Renaissance Tower, Shannon saw one of our flyers and showed up to a planning meeting full of enthusiasm, we could not have done it without her last year and she is definitely helping this year."
The fundraising event held its inaugural event last year and raised approximately $145,000 to be dispersed to its beneficiaries. All proceeds are donated to the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation, Texas Line of Duty Death Task Force, and the Twin Towers Orphan Fund. In 2011, Pilgrim served as the logistics coordinator in which she was in charge of making sure adequate food, water, and snacks were available for the 343 climbers, 30 alternates, and 150 plus volunteers that made the event a success. This year Pilgrim has moved to a more prominent role as the Support Section Chief, a position that requires that she manage five to six coordinators that report to her, one of those being her former position. Jason holds two positions as the Assistant Coordinator and Administrative Section Chief.
Several symbolic elements are placed in a timeline the day of the climb that mimic specific events from September 11, 2001. Each participant is given a biographical sketch and accountability tag of a NYC firefighter who gave their life on September, 11 or who has since passed due to their response and exposure at Ground Zero. The climbers will be assembled into company assignments based on the name of the fallen firefighter they are climbing for and will arrive at the top together. Climbers will stop at 9:59 and 10:28, the times the north and south towers fell, to give a moment of silence and to activate their PASS devices (firefighter distress alarm). As the firefighters reach the top, they will place their accountability tag on a board and ring a bell indicating that the firefighter they climbed for has made it to the top. The climbing companies are then given the opportunity for a group photo with one of four flags, the United States flag, the Texas State flag, the Flag of Heroes, or the Flag of Honor.
Special Thanks to Jason McClaren for the story and information and to Jonathon Sennetti - sennetti.com for the picture.
