LOWER MANHATTAN — The 9/11 Memorial isn't just going after big-name corporate donors — it's also looking for help from the city's youngest residents.
On Sept. 12, the memorial will launch a penny drive targeting the city's 1.3 million public, private and parochial students, asking each of them to give one cent to the cause.
"Many of our children are too young to know or remember what happened on 9/11, and how our country came together to recover and rebuild in the aftermath," Joe Daniels, president of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, said in a statement.
"This simple but meaningful campaign will encourage more than a million children to build a brighter future, and I hope instill in them an understanding that 9/11 is part of an ongoing story, one that continues to shape our world."
All students who participate in the "Pennies for the Memorial" campaign will receive a rubber pin emblazoned with the memorial's logo.
UnitedHealthcare has donated $2 million to pay for the pins and some of the initial costs of opening the memorial on the 10th anniversary this fall, memorial museum officials said.
The students' pennies will go toward educational programs at the 9/11 museum, which will open in September 2012.
