Blue Ridge Bank backs 9/11 Memorial

 Blue Ridge Bank has become the first Upstate financial institution to make a significant contribution toward the building of a 9/11 Memorial in Oconee County. And the bank made the contribution citing the impact the 9/11 attacks had on the banking industry. During a ceremony at Blue Ridge’s Bountyland office, CEO Glenn Buddin and President Jo Ann Bryson presented 9/11 Memorial Committee Chairman Brandon Shirley a check for $7,500. The funds, which require the committee to raise a matching amount, represent the first half of a two-year commitment toward construction of the memorial. “The banking and financial industries were a clear target of the 9/11 terrorists when they flew two planes into New York’s world Trade Center,” said Buddin. “It is only fitting that banks pay a lead role in seeing that this tragic event never be forgotten.” The 9/11 Committee has secured land on South Carolina 11, near the new Walhalla High, on which to build what the committee says will be the most significant and meaningful 9/11 memorial in the Southeast U-S. It is to consist of three raised pedestals that will display steel from the World Trade Center, sandstone blocks from the debris of the Pentagon and soil from the site in Shanksville, Pennsylavnia. Each marker will contain information about that particular aspect of September 11, 2001.