Remembering the day

Conway man launches fundraiser for 9/11 memorial

Conway Fire Department Battalion Chief Todd Cardin, left, and Chief Mike Winter, right, stand with Kevin Bass of Conway and a remnant of steel from one of the World Trade Center towers in New York City. Bass saw the piece of steel in the Conway Fire Department and started a GoFundMe page to raise money for a 9/11 Memorial that the department had designed but hasn’t had money to build.
Conway Fire Department Battalion Chief Todd Cardin, left, and Chief Mike Winter, right, stand with Kevin Bass of Conway and a remnant of steel from one of the World Trade Center towers in New York City. Bass saw the piece of steel in the Conway Fire Department and started a GoFundMe page to raise money for a 9/11 Memorial that the department had designed but hasn’t had money to build.

Kevin Bass of Conway just needed a burn permit, but he came across a piece of America’s history in the Central Fire Station and launched an effort to raise money for a 9/11 memorial.

Bass, a director of sourcing at Acxiom ITO, said he went Dec. 10 to the Central Fire Station in downtown Conway to get a permit to burn brush at a duplex he owns.

He noticed a bent, rusted piece of steel, “about a foot off the ground,” and saw that it was a piece of the World Trade Center from the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in New York City. He said his heart froze.

“Tears welled up, and I looked at the guys,” he said.

Bass said he could feel their emotions, too.

An architectural rendering of the proposed 9/11 memorial is displayed with the piece of steel, which came to Conway in 2011 after firefighters wrote a request.

“I reached in my pocket,” Bass said, planning to give a donation.

Bass said a firefighter told him the project was estimated to cost between $10,000 and $15,000. Bass asked how much money had been raised, and he was told none.

“I said, ‘Wait a minute — you guys have had this for four years and not been able to do anything?’ They were a little downcast about it.”

Bass asked how he could help, and no one had a definitive answer. As he walked to his car, Bass said he thought about the GoFundMe crowdfunding website.

He turned around and went back in the station, where the firefighters were having dinner. He took photos of the steel and told them about his idea to raise money. “I said, ‘Guys, I’ll have a page up tonight.’ They said, ‘Thank you.’”

He launched the Citizens for Conway 9-11 Memorial page on the Go Fund Me Website, which as of Thursday morning had raised about $2,000.

“The point is to me, it doesn’t belong under a roof where only a group of firefighters can see it,” Bass said. “It needs to be out where everyone can see it. It’ll bring a flood of emotions for most Americans who walk in.”

Conway Fire Chief Mike Winter agreed.

“I don’t know which tower, but it was from the World Trade Center. It’s in our living quarters on display, but that doesn’t do it justice,” Winter said.

However, the public is welcome to view it any time, he said.

He said a 9/11 Memorial Committee was formed two or three years ago, but it hasn’t actively solicited money.

“We haven’t gone out and asked for anything,” he said. “I think if we could get it budgeted, I think the City Council would support it, but we need firefighters; we need police officers; we need hoses and bullet-proof vests,” Winter said. “It’s hard to justify coming in and saying, ‘Hey, can you put this in the budget?’

Conway architect Rik Sowell drew the design, based on what the committee suggested.

“They’ve done research; they’ve looked at other 9/11 memorials out there,” Winter said. “They’ve got a game plan; they just need the funds.

Battalion Chief Todd Cardin, a member of the 9/11 Memorial Committee, said he helped write the request to get the piece of steel to Conway. He said the Conway Fire Department’s request was for two pieces of steel — a smaller one for the training site to be there “as a reminder,” and a larger one, which is the one received.

“This actually belongs to the New York [and New Jersey] Port Authority with the stipulation that if it’s properly displayed, it will stay here,” he said. The public can view it in the station, but it isn’t what the committee envisioned.

“We had big intentions and big plans,” Cardin said.

“It’s really neat, and what is drawn up is kind of just the base,” he said. “There are lights; we wanted to do water; it has different symbols.” He said the memorial is designed with 343 bricks to represent the firefighters killed that day.

The funding didn’t materialize, however, and the project stalled.

“This guy [Bass] comes in, and it’s got a whole new fire behind it; I’m excited,” Cardin said.

Winter said the plan is to move the current fallen firefighters memorial farther east in front of the station on Caldwell Avenue and place the 9/11 memorial in front of the three flags.

“It’s just a 9/11 memorial for the Conway Fire Department, for the city of Conway, for Faulkner County. It’s for America; it’s part of our history. We’re honored to have a piece of it, and we want to do it justice for everybody to see and to remember what we went through that day as a nation, the 343 firefighters lost that day, the police officers, … for the resiliency of this country to come together,” Winter said. “It’s very special.”

Fire Department Engineer Stewart Wilcox agreed. “It’s important to us — we lost 343 firemen that day,” which is three times the size of the Conway Fire Department.

He said the memorial has been “a long time coming. That’s what it’s for — for all the citizens to see it and remember.”

Wilcox said his hope would be that children who weren’t born or are too young to remember 9/11 will see the memorial and be enlightened about what the day means.

Bass said if more money is raised than is needed to build the memorial, the extra will be donated to the Conway Fire Department.

“Being close to Christmas is probably not the greatest time, but if we have to raise this $5 at a time, we will,” Bass said. “I think it’s doable. I think folks are tied to that event and to this piece, and that it is doable.”

To donate, go to www.gofundme.com/dwebxayc.

Senior writer Tammy Keith can be reached at (501) 327-0370 or tkeith@arkansasonline.com.

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