SACSS Day of Remembrance

SACSS organized a Day of Remembrance, marking 25 years since 9/11 and honoring the 46 South Asian and Indo-Caribbean lives lost that day.

During the gathering, a video was shared announcing the republication of SACSS’s Book of Memories, first published in 2002 to honor those whose lives were taken on September 11, 2001. SACSS Student Youth Leadership Program (SYLP) students read stories of 9/11 victims from the Book of Memories. Hearing their stories read by a younger generation was a meaningful way to keep their memories alive and ensure that the lives they lived continue to be remembered for years to come.

SACSS was honored to have Congresswoman Grace Meng, Senator John Liu, Sree Sreenivasan, and John Albert join us and share a few words with our SACSS seniors and SACSS Board Members, including Devi Ramchandran, Mysore Gandhi, Anupa Shrestha, and Ranu Boppana, who were also present for the event.

It was a moving day, and we are grateful to everyone who took a moment to remember, reflect, and honor these precious lives.

“SACSS was just one-year-old in 2001. The impact of 9/11 was devastating, but it really had such an impact on the organization, a fledgling organization. You could say it defined the work of SACSS. We worked with the families of 46 direct victims, people who lost jobs and people who were being persecuted after 9/11.” -Sudha Acharya, Founder and Executive Director of SACSS.

SYLP participant Minha Jyotika narrating the story of S. Shreyas Raganath from the Book of Memories.

“It is so important that we are having an event like this on the 25th anniversary to make sure that all the history and story we are telling New Yorkers and Americans are complete and accurate about 9/11 and what happened in the days afterwards.” – Congresswoman Grace Meng

“The morning on September 11, 2001, was my election day. That was my primary day for City Council. I saw on TV those towers coming crumbling down. You never forget what happened that day and the horror of September 11, but I also always remind people of what happened after September 11 – a lot of good came out. New Yorkers got together, and the entire world got together behind New York.” -Senator John Liu

“It’s a very special thing to be here, to be inside the SACSS building. If you think back 25 years, the distance SACSS has come, and the incredible work that Sudha did. Our community is always celebrating its successes, about everyone from the head of Google to the head of IBM to the head of Adobe or Pepsi. All of these people are South Asian Americans who have done very well, and so everybody likes celebrating them. But who looks after the folks who aren’t able to reach those heights? Only SACSS. And from day one when I got to know Sudha, the amount of work that she and her entire team have put in has made a real difference.” – Sree Sreenivasan, co-founder of SAJA and has served as Chief Digital Officer of the City of New York.

“I was a psychiatrist practicing at the time, and I did work with some of the South Asian 9/11 families with SACSS. I saw firsthand SACSS as a very young organization leading with cultural competence, with language proficiency, and with utter respect for the survivors.” -Ranu Boppana, MD, SACSS Board Director.

“I remember all the people that SACSS was able to serve. As Grace Meng mentioned, SACSS was a baby at the time and did it so wonderfully. It was really amazing at the time to see our community coming together, not only to serve the victims who were from our community, but to serve everyone and to be a source of resources for the entire community.” -John Albert, Advocate and Supporter of SACSS.

SACSS senior reading the Book of Memories.