This year marked the 17th anniversary of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York. When something tragic happens, Americans gather together to honor the dead. CrossFit Fargo gym honored those who served and those who died by running in the 9/11 Heroes Run to raise money for the Travis Manion Foundation.

The Travis Manion Foundation was started in 2007 in honor of Lt. Travis Manion who died in Iraq. The foundation focuses on raising money for veterans and those that died while serving their country. According to its mission statement, the foundation wants “to empower our nation’s veterans and families of our fallen heroes to develop character in future generations in order to strengthen communities.”

The 9/11 Heroes Run takes place in 50 different locations across the United States to unite communities into honoring those lost in the tragedy 17 years ago. “They have a virtual 5K so there are people all around in the United States right now that are doing this same type of thing,” Jeremy Donais, co-owner of CrossFit Fargo, shared. “There are some sanctioned 5K events, but there are virtual runners from all 50 states doing it right now.”

Donais explained that the one-mile run is “honoring people who have either died in the line of service, so firefighters, EMTs, police officers, military, all branches of the military. They do workouts in honor of people who have died in the line of service.”

At CrossFit Fargo, they have many veterans a part of their membership, so Donais found it important to honor them and their service while also remembering others that lost their lives on 9/11.

For the charity run, they had people register online, which led to donations and a donation box located in the gym. Donais estimated almost $100 was raised for the Travis Manion Foundation.

The anniversary of 9/11 brought on a conversation in the gym where Donais found out one of the members had lost their sister during the World Trade Center attack. Donais explained that “being able to do that (9/11 Heroes Run) for our members and to just give them something to do and something to remember their loved ones by” meant a lot.

The motto of the foundation is to not only run and donate, but to honor those lost due to their service to their country. This run allows for communities to unite and empower families who have lost their loved ones. The foundation’s website explains, “We run to honor the heroes of 9/11. We run to honor those who’ve served our nation since.”