9/11 Memorial Walking Tours
Become a Guide
What volunteers have said about participating in this program
"When I am here, I find it equally valuable to hear different stories from the other volunteers- it helps put my experience into a larger context.... and I have found a new community of friends."
"I enjoy meeting people from around the world that had no idea of what happened here."
"Doing these tours has given me a bigger purpose, I am living history, after all!"
"I keep the events of September 11th real. Not just dry facts people read about.... One of the best parts of this program is looking into the eyes of those who want to know more about that day and what followed."
Volunteering at the Tribute Center
Walking Tour and Gallery Guides
The 9/11 Tribute Center's Volunteer Program offers an opportunity for people directly affected by the events of September 11th to lead guided walks on the 9/11 Memorial. All volunteers are drawn from the community of survivors, lower Manhattan residents and workers, rescue workers, volunteers at the recovery site and family members that lost loved ones. Guides are trained to talk about the history of the World Trade Center and the impact of September 11th, and share their own personal experiences and inspire visitors with the rebuilding of the World Trade Center. In addition to the walking tour program, Tribute volunteers can also act as gallery guides in the Tribute Center, interacting informally with visitors or concluding visits of school groups.
If interested in volunteering please fill out the application through the link below.
If you are experiencing issues with the online application, please download a PDF of the application here.
For more information, contact volunteer@tributewtc.org or please call
212 422 3520 ext. 112.
Shannon lost her husband on American Airlines Flight 11 when it hit the North Tower on September 11th.
"I've come to realize how far-reaching the events of September 11, 2001 were for the rest of the world. On tour after tour, someone from Germany, Australia or South Africa tells me how the attacks changed the world; not just New York and the United States."
Geri works for Aon Corporation which was located on the 92nd and the 98th-105th floors of the South Tower. She lost 175 of her colleagues.
"My office was on the 101st floor of the South Tower. I was traveling on business that day. When I watched the second plane hit our Tower. I thought everyone I worked with was killed."
Mickey is a retired Lieutenant from Engine 16 and dramatically survived the collapse of the North Tower.
"I conduct tours at the Tribute Center because it gives me a sense of purpose and I feel like I am giving something back."
Elia worked in the North Tower for over 20 years and survived both the attacks in 1993 and in 2001.
"I take comfort in the smiling faces of our loved ones lost, as their joy has been captured in photographs. As I choose to remember them in life, it is now my intent to bring joy and smiles to others"
Gerry works for the New York Metropolitan Transportation Council and was on the 82nd floor of North Tower and is a survivor of both the 1993 and September 11th attacks.
"It is important to me that the visitors walk away with a better idea of the people behind the story of September 11th; those who died, those who lived and those who came to help and comfort."
Joe is retired from the New York City Fire Department and is a survivor of the attacks.
"On that day thousands of people lost their lives, and then hundreds gave their lives so that many, many more thousands would live. And that's something that nobody should ever forget."
June has lived in Lower Manhattan since 1997 and was evacuated from her apartment on September 11th .
"I like to give visitors a sense of what the neighborhood was like before September 11th but more importantly, what it was like to live downtown in the days, weeks and months after September 11th."
Rose Ellen lost her husband, Kevin, a lieutenant from Rescue 4 with the FDNY. Kevin died in the South Tower.
"I decided to participate in the volunteer program at Tribute because I felt a need to share some memories of my husband. Those memories are both wonderful and devastating. I want people to know that he was a kind, brave, knowledgeable firefighter who was doing what he loved. He dedicated his life to helping others, and he left behind a legacy in his two sons."
Doug was among the many New Yorkers who watched in horror as the World Trade Center collapsed. He immediately went down to the site to volunteer in any way he could with the rescue and recovery effort.
"Every tour that I conduct allows me to give voice to the horror that occurred at the World Trade Center site on 9/11 and to pay my perpetual respects to the memory of the victims."