Friends of Flight 93 National Memorial appoints new executive director, continues legacy of support

Though she grew up in Somerset, Donna Gibson was living close to Pittsburgh during the terrorist attacks on 9/11.

After moving back to Somerset, she and her husband received an invitation to plant trees at the Flight 93 National Memorial in 2012. And, since then, she’s brought a team to “Plant a Tree” every year.

“I just became impassioned by what the site was doing and (its) mission,” said Gibson, 62.

After 11 years as a volunteer ambassador for the National Park Service at the memorial and six years as a Friends of Flight 93 National Memorial board member, Gibson has been appointed the new executive director of the Friends organization.

Friends of Flight 93 National Memorial was founded in 2009 as the official nonprofit supporting partner of the memorial, focusing on education, volunteer work and financial support.

Gibson said Friends consulted for the executive director services for two years and decided to hire its own.

“I honestly had really never considered it,” Gibson said of the executive position. But then she realized she still has “a lot to give and would’ve been involved anyway in some capacity.”

The opening aligned with her retirement from the banking industry, as well, Gibson said. She was a vice president at First National Bank, headquartered in Pittsburgh, and retired at the end of 2021.

Gibson said she lives about 8 miles from the memorial, and she works from the Friends headquarters there almost every day.

Plant a Tree was an environmental project sponsored by the Friends of Flight 93 National Memorial and National Park Service, with a goal of planting 150,000 trees on Flight 93 property over 10 years. This year, Gibson said, was the last Plant a Tree because the goal was reached.

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“I think Plant a Tree has always been one of my favorite projects that we do every year,” Gibson said. “Having been there for the first one and being there for the last one … we’re basically leaving a legacy for the next generation.”

The trees were planted along the perimeter of the park, Gibson said, to provide wind blocks for the structures and establish natural habitats for animals to come back to the site, which previously was an abandoned surface mine.

Since the project’s conclusion, Gibson said she’s been working with the National Park Service to “identify other environmental projects.”

Gibson said she hopes to make the Friends organization more “sustainable” — ensure it has enough money in its reserves — throughout her tenure as executive director. That way, it won’t “suffer during down years with the programs and services (it’s) able to offer.”

“Right now, with inflation, our fundraising efforts have not been as good as they have been in past years,” Gibson said. “A lot of nonprofits have had to lay people off, decrease services. My goal would be to not have to do that.”

Friends of Flight 93 National Memorial has 12 board members, and four hold leadership positions. One is Vice President Emily Schenkel, who said she’s known Gibson for “quite some time.”

“I’m personally extremely excited to have (Gibson) at the head of the organization,” said Schenkel, 46, of Bethlehem. “I think that Donna has an amazing vision. … She’s not someone who’s gonna sit back. She’s just going to continually have plans, a way of bringing people together.”

Schenkel is a family member at Flight 93. Her aunt, Lorraine Bay, her dad’s first cousin, was a United Airlines flight attendant who died as a hero at the site.

“As a family member, it’s an honor for me to be involved,” Schenkel said. “It’s important for me to be representative of my family. (I’m) appreciative of having an organization … that I can be proud of.”

However, the work never ceases, Schenkel said. She wants to make sure Friends continues to educate those who visit the site and virtual attendees around the world.

“It’s super important to me, as time goes on, that this is in place for people to learn, to ensure generations of people know what happened that day, on that flight,” Schenkel said.

During the height of the coronavirus pandemic, Gibson said, Flight 93 expanded its website to include virtual learning programs, including a virtual tour for those who didn’t have the ability to travel to the site or wanted to learn more before arriving.

Though she’s not personally a family member, Gibson said, over the years, she’s learned all of their personal stories.

“I’ve become very close to a lot of the family members, so that makes the mission even more important to me,” Gibson said.

Fred Lukachinsky, the newly appointed Friends board president, hired Gibson as the new executive director with board approval.

“She’s one of my favorite people on this planet,” said Lukachinsky, 57, of Cranberry. “Surround yourself with people who are better than you, and you’ll succeed.”

Lukachinsky said he grew up in Cleveland, which is where air traffic control identified the hijacking.

“Just to see fighter jets circling the area (was) very surreal,” Lukachinsky said. “I felt our country was for the first time being attacked on its own soil, it resonated with me … everyone was touched that day.”

Despite the pandemic, Lukachinsky said, this past year saw a record attendance of 424,224 people at the memorial. Compared with 2019, which saw 411,226, and not including 2020 because it was an outlier, Lukachinsky said it’s a “pretty healthy increase considering we’re still living in a pandemic world.”

“It’s a labor of love,” Lukachinsky said. “We’re achieving our mission of getting the story out there.”

Schenkel believes there always can be more visitors, though.

“There’s so much more to the memorial than just the visitors center, the nature, the beauty of it,” Schenkel said. “I don’t know anyone who has come and has walked away not thankful that … they took the time to go.”