09/11/2026
Today marks twenty-five years since September 11, 2001 — a day that reshaped our nation and one I carry with me personally as a former New Yorker. I lost friends that day, and every year on this date I think of them: their laughter, the futures they should have had, the families who have carried that loss for a quarter century now.
What I remember most from that time, though, isn't only the horror — it's what came after. Neighbors who became family. Strangers who carried strangers. A city, and a country, that leaned on each other to keep standing.
That's the same spirit that animates our work at The Father Center every day. Fatherhood, family, community — these aren't abstractions to me. They're what got us through September 11th, and they're what will get families through whatever they face today. When we show up for a father trying to hold his family together, we're living out the same lesson that day taught me: that showing up for one another is how we survive, and how we heal.
Please take a moment today to remember those we lost, to hug the people you love a little tighter, and to recommit — as I do every year — to the work of building strong families and stronger communities.
With gratitude and remembrance,
Bryan Adé Evans CEO, The Father Center of New Jersey
