Sunday marks the 15th anniversary of the events of 9/11, and a local church is hoping to pay their respects to those who lost their lives that day.
Church of the Heartland is putting on “Patriot Sunday” to both remember the tragedies at the twin towers in New York, at the Pentagon in Washington D.C., and in rural Pennsylvania.
Heath Hiatt is the pastor at Church of the Heartland. He says they’re focusing this year’s event on the concept of honor.
“We’re going to have several different fire departments and first responders that are going to be there after the service and we’re going to go out and praying with them and we’re praying the firefighters prayer with them and showing them some honor as well and telling them that we support them,” says Hiatt.
3-thousand people lost their lives in New York and Washington D.C. with 400 police and firefighters among the totals.
Church of the Heartland has locations in Winamac and in Starke County and plans to hold remembrance events in both locations on Sunday. A special church service with patriotic music and themes will be used throughout the morning on Sunday to pay respect to the victims of the devastation.
Hiatt says while honoring those killed in 9/11, organizers are also looking to celebrate the efforts of local emergency responders.
“We believe in cases of emergency, they’d run into the same kinds of situations and if they were put under the same situations, would find themselves just as courageous and find themselves worthy of honor as well,” says Hiatt.
Many of the surviving emergency responders experience persisting breathing and other health problems.
The first service will be held at 9:30 a.m. EST in Winamac. The second event will be held at 11:00 a.m. CT in Starke County.
