Eight years ago this coming Friday, America came under terrorist attacks that drove many Americans to their knees in prayer.

Church doors across the nation were open the night of the attacks and remained so for days thereafter. People came and went, pausing to weep and pray.

“But we’ve kind of forgotten about it,” says Jeannine Wessell of Jefferson, who feels the nation needs to pause and pray once again on September 11.

Last year Wessell organized a Cry Out America event at the Jefferson Gazebo across from the courthouse complex. Cry Out America events are organized at the grassroots level under the guidance of Awakening America Alliance (www.awakeningamerica.us).

Wessell said she learned about the national event shortly before 9-11 last year and quickly pulled together a gathering at the Jefferson Depot. This year Wessell has had more time to prepare and is planning a sunrise-to-sunset opportunity for people to stop at the gazebo and pray for their nation.

“We just want to have the gazebo open so anybody can come in and pray on their way to or home from work,” she said.

Assisted by Sheila Warner of Jefferson and the Rev. Robert Tarasiak of Family Fellowship Foursquare Gospel Church, Conneaut, Wessell has pulled together a two-hour event starting at 11 a.m. that day.

“It’s a remembrance of the people who died in the attacks, which were totally against our freedoms, our nation,” Tarasiak said.

Veterans of Foreign Wars members will present the colors, lead the pledge and play Taps. Four pastors from Jefferson and Conneaut will speak and/or lead prayer: Tarasiak, D. Josh Arrington of Jefferson United Methodist and Darren Gollon of Jefferson Nazarene. St. Joseph Church, Jefferson, is also scheduled to participate.

Tarasiak plans to sing a few songs and talk about the importance of prayer to both the individual and nation.

“I just think prayer is so important in my life and for many years it was in our nation, too. It’s time we cry out to God for our nation once again,” Tarasiak said.

The keynote speaker will be Dawn Slike from Lake County Right to Life. Slike said she will focus on the national 40 Days for Life (40daysforlife.com) prayer vigil and fast to end abortion in the United States. The event begins Sept. 23 and continues through Nov. 1. Slike will be recruiting people to pray and fast at Family Planning Centers in the region.

“I will be throwing out abortion statistics and then we will pray about it,” she said.

Slike says her focus ties into 9-11 remembrances because “God will not bless our country until we turn our hearts back to him.” She said America is breaking both natural and God’s law in the way it handles sexuality and reproduction. She feels the threats that come from foreign nations are the result of this violation.

“Until we stop baby killing in this country, God will not bless our country with peace,” she said.

“We’ve taken God out of everything and we continue to go down that slippery slope,” Tarasiak said.

Wessell says this event is different from the National Day of Prayer, held in May.

“It’s more specific,” she said. “It’s from noon to 1 p.m. in different cities across the United States. It is more like what we did after 9-11. Somehow, we got away from that, we don’t gather in one place and have a place where you can come and go during the day.”