The Travis Manion Foundation is organizing a charity run in New Orleans Saturday to commemorate the 25th anniversary of 9/11 and honor a Marine who died in Iraq in 2007.
Beau Higgins, a New Orleans native, works with the foundation. The charity is named after Travis Manion, a Marine who inspired its mission.
“He’s actually a Marine who I personally served with,” Higgins said. “He famously said before he deployed and was killed, ‘If not me, then who?'”
Higgins said these words still resonate with the foundation’s work today.
“That mantra of ‘If not me, then who,’ was really the backbone of what the foundation is all about, finding ways to give back in some way at a very local level,” Higgins said.
The national foundation is organizing about 50 runs throughout the country this year to commemorate the 25th anniversary of 9/11. It returns to New Orleans for the third time this year.
“We all remember the events of 9/11 itself, the planes hitting the buildings and how traumatic that was,” Higgins said. “But what this event, to me, is really about is what this community felt like on 9/12. This country was never more united than it was on 9/12. We all came together no matter what your background was, and bringing people out to run, walk, volunteer, just be a part of the event is super important to me.”
Registration opens at Audubon Park Pavilion 10 at 6:30 a.m. Saturday, followed by performances by the United States Marine Corps Band and Tulane Color Guard.
The race starts at 8:30 a.m.
READ MORE:Run in New Orleans this weekend will commemorate 9/11, honor fallen marine
