Updated: October 3, 2002

DEP Replaces and Replants Stolen 9/11 Memorial Tree At PS 811Q in Little Neck, Queens

On September 11, PS 811Q, a school for children with special needs, held a tree planting ceremony as a tribute to the memory of the World Trade Center and to honor the survivors. Children and teachers planted a Colorado Blue Spruce on school grounds as as their contribution to the City’s remembrance of that day. Much to their dismay, the newly planted tree was dug up and stolen. The next morning all that was left was an ugly hole where the tree had been.

Mrs. Tetenbaum, the school’s music teacher learned through a television news program that DEP, coincidentally around the same time, had released an announcement that it would make trees available to New York City schools for memorial plantings. She contacted Mayor Bloomberg’s office requesting a tree to replace the tree that had been stolen. They forwarded it to the Department of Environmental Protection’s office of Ecological Services, and arrangements were made for DEP to donate a new tree at a special school Ceremony.

On October 3, DEP Commissioner Christopher O. Ward, PS 811Q Principal Joan Washington, teachers and students, as well as members of the community gathered at a ceremony to replace the stolen tree.