The memory of Lisa Raines, a health care lobbyist who lived in Great Falls until she perished at the Pentagon on American Airlines Flight 77 on Sept. 11 last year, will be honored with a special concert on Sept. 6.
It is titled “You are not Alone ... or Forgotten,” the title of a song by lead performer Katrina Rae.
The concert, free and open to the public, will be held at Fourth Presbyterian Church in Bethesda, Md.
It is presented by Gospel Rescue Ministries (GRM), the charity that Lisa Raines supported.
John Jackson, her neighbor on Leigh Mill Road in Great Falls, is executive director of GRM.
He is also the son of Rev. A.W. Jackson, who pastored Bethel Baptist Church on Towlston Road before his death in 2001.
Since Raines died, Jackson has worked with her husband, Stephen Push, to strengthen support of GRM in memory of his wife.
“Our focus at the concert will be the connection between him and Lisa and the mission,” Jackson said. “So many people chose our mission as a way to memorialize her life.”
“It’s also in memory of the others who died at the Pentagon,” said Jackson. “We have a lot of nice talent.”
AFTER 9/11, Jackson said, the outpouring of support for more immediate needs such as the Red Cross and United Way reduced the donor base that provides services such as a homeless shelter, drug recovery support, and classes for the homeless at GRM in Washington.
“They are the core group that we serve on a day-to-day basis at the mission,” Jackson said, “and also the victims of the downturn in the economy.
He described GRM as “A strong spiritual organization that is non -denominational, but we teach the Bible. We are the classic, faith-based organization that President Bush talks about,” Jackson said.
“It’s a free concert, but we will take a freewill offering. It is at a church — it is not touted as a fund-raiser,” he said. The concert will feature gospel and patriotic music, as well as presentations about Sept. 11 and one about Lisa Raines’ life.
She was a “key lobbyist” in the health care industry, said Jackson.
“It is going to be upbeat; we will portray the realism of what happened, but portray what her life meant to so many people — embodies the principles in her life of helping people to carry on.
“We hope to have a color guard there, and a bagpipe playing ‘Amazing Grace.’"
The Washington Saxophone Quartet and gospel singer Katrina Rae will perform. After Sept. 11, 2001, in Nashville, she gathered together 12-13 Christian artists to record a CD that was titled “You are not alone ... forgotten.”
“She wrote that song and made a music video,” Jackson said. “They sold that, and all the funds went to survivors’ dependents. ... She is coming up to actually do that, with the video in the background.
About seven or eight other musical groups will also perform.
Jackson, the son of the late Rev. A.W. Jackson, became GRM’s executive director after he retired “from the corporate world,” he said.
His father died in March 2001 at the age of 90. He had been in the ministry 64 years and was married for 67 years to Dorothy Jackson, who still lives in Great Falls.
Several years ago, the couple was rescued from swollen Difficult Run when flood waters swept their car from Leigh Mill Road as they drove to church on Sunday morning.
Firefighters from Shift B at Company 12 in Great Falls who were trained in swiftwater rescue came to their aid, securing their flooded automobile with ropes before pulling them through the car windows and helping them into a Zodiac inflatable life boat.
The concert will begin at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 6, at Fourth Presbyterian Church, 5500 River Toad in Bethesda, located on River Road 3 miles inside the Beltway.
The concert will be open to the public; no tickets will be required.