Metro Detroit volunteers honor lives lost on 9/11 with service

Charles E. Ramirez, The Detroit News on Sep 11, 2025

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

ROMULUS, Mich. — Alana Hart remembers she was driving to work at the Home Depot store in Rochester when she first heard America had been attacked on Sept. 11, 2001.

She got there and found her co-workers were just as stunned as she was.

"There was a different feel," the 47-year-old from Lake Orion recalled. "What was happening? How do we work? How do we finish the day? We didn't know what to do."

Hart, a Team Depot district captain, was one of more than 100 volunteers with The Home Depot Foundation who gathered Thursday to honor those lost in the terrorist attacks on the United States 24 years ago.

She said since then, she has been to the National September 11 Memorial & Museum and the Flight 93 National Memorial in Pennsylvania.

"We can't forget," Hart said. "We have to be grateful and thankful for everything we have and still being together."

She and the other volunteers were at a Home Depot warehouse on Wahrman Road near Interstate 275 and Pennsylvania Road, not far from Detroit Metro Airport, for the event.

The foundation's volunteers, along with ToolBank USA, marked the day by building and donating 25 benches and 25 picnic tables for local organizations, including Piquette Square, Volunteers of America Michigan, and the city of Detroit.

The volunteers at the Romulus warehouse on Thursday were all from stores across the region, said Hart, who works at Home Depot's Lake Orion store.

The Home Depot Foundation, a nonprofit supported by home improvement retailer, works to improve the homes and lives of U.S. veterans, support communities impacted by natural disasters, and train skilled tradespeople.

Hart said the work kicks off the nonprofit's Celebration of Service, which will take on hundreds of veteran-focused projects nationwide through Nov. 14.

"It's what we do in our volunteer projects all year long," she said.

Building the benches and tables began after an 8:46 a.m. moment of silence to mark the time the first Twin Tower was struck in 2001. During the silence, the volunteers bowed their heads and held small American flags.

After, the sounds of hammers pounding and drill motors boring holes and sinking screws filled the air, coming from a sea of orange T-shirts and baseball caps.

Hart said the plan was to have the projects wrapped up by 11 a.m. Between then and noon, the volunteers were expecting the nonprofits to arrive to pick up the projects.

"Our mission is to provide the tools, the equipment, and expertise to nonprofits and give back to the community," said Adam Phlegar, 41, of Richmond, Va., and manager for Special Projects and Assets for ToolBank USA. "We teach people how to safely use tools that they may not have necessarily known how to use before, while giving back to their communities."

Team-building is a big part of the projects it works on, he said. "Some of these folks have never worked together before. Or they may be colleagues, but they don't really know each other. Today, it's about team-building and helping their community. The way we look at it is all of the relationships that are being built today around these picnic tables and benches are the start of relationships that are going to be built as people sit around them and enjoy meals and their community together — and that's what the whole program is about."

Phlegar added ToolBank USA, which opened its first tool bank about nine years ago in Richmond, Va., recently opened a tool bank in Detroit.

"We're all in this together," he said. "And everyone has a contribution to make to our community to make it better."

Jim Levins, 46, of Chesterfield Township, was one of The Home Depot Foundation's volunteers at the warehouse on Thursday.

"I've been doing Team Depot projects for about 15 years," said Levins, a Navy veteran and an assistant manager at the retailer's Shelby Township store. "It's something that resonates with me because when I know that I'm helping out on a veteran-related project, I feel like I'm helping family out."

Levins said he did a lot of similar volunteer work when he was in the service. Levins was a Petty Officer Third Class while in the Navy and an operations specialist who worked with radar systems. He said he was stationed on ships in the Middle East and had just been discharged when the 9/11 attacks happened.

"We don't want to forget what happened on that day," he said.

The event was among many held on Thursday to commemorate the 24th anniversary of the attacks that left nearly 3,000 people dead.

Members of the Detroit Police Department and the Detroit Fire Department gathered for their annual 9/11 Memorial Service in Campus Martius Park.

Elsewhere, Clinton Township held its annual 9/11 ceremony at Resurrection Cemetery, the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office hosted its annual event and Michigan Fallen Heroes Memorial Ceremony in Pontiac and Rochester Hills hosted a ceremony at the city's fire department headquarters.

---------------