The 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks will be commemorated at Binghamton University with a walkathon titled “Walk to Remember.”

The walkathon, hosted by the Chabad Center for Jewish Student Life, the Alumni Association and the BU administration will commence at 1 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 11 with a ceremony to honor the attacks’ victims, which included 15 BU alumni.

During the opening ceremony there will be three specially-dedicated stations, one for each of the three sites where American citizens died at the hands of terrorists on Sept. 11: the World Trade Center in New York, the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. and a field in Shanksville, PA.

Alpha Epsilon Pi and Sigma Alpha Epsilon Pi will be the hosts of the World Trade Center station, Pi Kappa Phi will be the host of the Pentagon station and the men’s lacrosse team will be the host of the Shanksville station. The lacrosse team became involved in the walkathon as a way to honor a team member’s father who died in the attacks.

“The Twin Towers station has an interactive portion where you can make cards for soldiers,” said Rebecca Bandler, a sophomore in the Decker School of Nursing who is also majoring in psychology, who is helping to coordinate the event.

The walkathon, which will circle the Brain, will begin after the ceremony.

Teams will be representing an alumnus or alumna who died with a card containing information about him or her. Other teams will have cards to honor more people who died in the attacks from other areas.

“[Walkathon participants will] realize that they fundraised in the person’s memory,” Bandler said. “The cards hit really close to home, it was very sad and emotional to read them.”

Planning for the event has been underway since the end of last semester. Over the summer, coordinators from the Chabad Center spoke to the administration to finalize the details.

“They loved [the idea],” said Dayna Driscoll, a senior majoring in political science and the recruitment coordinator of the event.

Driscoll contacted various student groups early on to get them involved with planning the walkathon.

“We made a page where groups can sign up, not to walk but just to help for the day of set-up,” she said.

Sodexo is helping sponsor the event by providing snacks and water. College Republicans, which usually plants flags along the Lois B. DeFleur Walkway to commemorate 9/11, will plant flags around the Brain this year in conjunction with the route of the walkathon.

Driscoll said that about $1,000 has been raised so far in donations, and that the goal of the walkathon is to raise at least $10,000.

“We’re hoping to maybe even go above the goal because people may bring donations the day of the event,” she said.

The coordinators chose two charities to which to donate the money raised by the walkathon: the Twin Towers Orphan Fund, which helps children of 9/11 victims afford college, and the Broome Volunteer Emergency Squad, who were part of the first responders to help on 9/11. The team drove from Binghamton to Ground Zero after hearing about the attacks.

“We wanted to do one local cause and one national cause,” Driscoll said.

The money raised will be split evenly between the two charities, according to Bandler.

There is no fee to register for the walk, but participants are encouraged to donate to the cause.

“You don’t have to raise any money to walk, but if you do happen to raise $10 per person, you can get a T-shirt at the walkathon,” Bandler said.

T-shirts will also be sold at the event.

Although the idea for the walkathon originated with Chabad, Driscoll stressed that the event is being jointly run with the BU administration and Alumni Association and that no students should feel excluded from participating.

“We want everyone to be together, that’s what is most important,” Driscoll said.

Sign-up will be open until the day of the event. People can register as individuals or as part of a team along with a group of friends or fellow student organization members. Registration is open at www.walktoremember911.com, where more information is also available.