Pictured: Brian Rafferty, General George Casey, Randy Bass, Bill Keegan
Project Rebirth Screening and Discussion: The Annual Casey-McIlvane Memorial Lecture
On September 11, 2017 the Library and the Library Associates of Georgetown University hosted this year’s lecture. It featured a screening of selected clips from the Project Rebirth documentary and remarks from Brian Rafferty, (CAS’79) Chairman, Project Rebirth, Georgetown Board of Regents; Randy Bass, Vice-Provost for Education, Professor of English, Georgetown University; General George Casey (USA, Retired) (F’70), Georgetown Board of Directors, and Bill Keegan, Founder and President of Heart 9/11.
"I wanted students to get a sense of empathy from Rebirth. I don’t think there’s anything more important that we can do as educators, at this moment in history, than help students develop a very poignant sense of critical empathy and for me one of the things that empathy means is helping students see that what they thought was simple is actually very complex."
- Randy Bass, PhD, Vice Provost for Education and Professor of English, Georgetown University
Veterans & First Responders Mark 9/11 15th Anniversary Together - Hylton Performing Arts Center
The September 10th event at the Manassas, Virginia Hylton Performing Arts Center included, "Rebirth: Brian" a Project Rebirth short film about the brother of a New York City firefighter killed on 9/11 who overcomes PTSD. Following the screening, Bob Gray, a retired Arlington County Fire Department battalion chief who responded to the 9/11 attack on the Pentagon, spoke about his traumatic brain injury and his work with the Project Rebirth First Responders Resilience Network team. Virginia US Marine Matthew Hallinan discussed the challenges of integrating back into civilian life. Jesse Hempen, an officer with the Prince Georges County Police Department, spoke about how his life has changed since being shot in February while responding to a domestic violence call. Finally, Manassas City Police Captain Tina Lagunawill discussed challenges facing officers in the field and resources available locally to help them.
Unique Program Helps Women Warriors Curriculum: College Station, TX 2016
Women Warriors Curriculum was incorporated in Navasota, Texas by 20 women service members who grappled with physical or mental trauma. The weeklong program at Camp Allen was run collaboratively with Ride 2 Recovery and combined morning 30- to 60-mile cycling trips with afternoon and evening therapeutic sessions. As participants together undergo the physical and mental rehabilitation, they bond and begin to heal.
Students Hear First-hand Accounts of 9/11 in History Class
"It was really sad and kind of like overwhelming. But It was Inspiring to follow their journey and watch them grow over time."
- Olivia Ward, 13
Alice Greenwald: The Woman Writing the History of 9/11
"So, yes, the memorial museum testifies to mass death. But it also attests to resilience, Greenwald says. An installation called 'Rebirth at Ground Zero' is a 10-minute, panoramic time-lapse film that begins in the last days of the recovery and ends with the completion of the new tower. 'There are people whose voices you hear who were intimately affected, and they are speaking to how, with the passage of time, it is possible to reconstruct your life. Just as we have reconstructed at ground zero,' Greenwald says. She adds that the queue for the installation is long.
- Alice Greenwald, Director of National September 11th Memorial Museum
Sarasota Film Festival Screening of REBIRTH
On September 19, 2015 at the Venice Performing Arts Center, two of the film participants, Tim Brown and Tanya Villanueva Tepper spoke to the audience afterwards. It is the first event for SFF since the festival ended in April.
“Just as importantly, for the generation too young to view that day personally rather than through the lens of recent history, it is a reflection on trauma, grief, and the process of healing in a way that reminds us all of the importance of empathy toward those around us”
- Jedediah Shoemaker, SFF Associate Director
"REBIRTH is the best 9/11 film out there, because it is about hope and resilience"
- John Secor, SFF Producer
Project Rebirth in PTSD Journal
"Since the September 11th World Trade Center attack, the work of firemen, policemen and EMT personnel has started to truly get recognized. Think about it, how popular was the term “first responders” before 9/11?
Similarly, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan increased the awareness of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The ailment has become so well known its acronym, PTSD, needs no explanation. Project Rebirth is determined to understand the complexity of those individuals who face firsthand the devastation left behind from tragic events like the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City or a natural disaster like Hurricane Katrina. The organization is also dedicated to supporting military servicemen and women, and to creating programs to facilitate healing and resilience for anyone impacted by tragedy or in need of support.
Project Rebirth: Post Traumatic Stress Awareness Training 2015
We utilized Brian Lyons' REBIRTH short film to show post-traumatic growth as a form of resilience as well as hope, positive perspective, and having a sense of purpose. We jointly unveiled this training with the Resilience Operations Center of Kansas (ROCK) to Kansas National Guard leadership during the National Guard Association of Kansas's (NGAKS) 2015 Joint Conference on April 18th in Topeka, KS.
The Newseum hosts a Rebirth screening
With a permanent exhibit focused on the 9/11 attacks and their aftermath, the Washington, DC-based Newseum played an important role in framing the legacy of 9/11 and the ways hundreds of millions of people followed its stories through the news and media. Project Rebirth's first screening of "Rebirth" at the Newseum was shortly after the film's release in 2011, and Project Rebirth has screened its films and led discussions there a number of times.
"Rebirth at Ground Zero" Opens at the National 9/11 Museum
A work a dozen years in the making, honoring the resilience of the human spirit and the legacy of 9/11, dedicated to those who serve community and country.