On Saturday June 15, 2013 at 9am JPCA President, Robert Holden, will receive the General Slocum Hero and Community Service Award at All Faith's Cemetery at the site of the General Slocum Memorial Statue. The Consulate General of Germany will preside over the Ceremony.

On June 15, 1904, the steamship General Slocum caught fire and sank in New York's East River. At the time of the accident she was on a chartered run carrying members of St. Mark's Evangelical Lutheran Church (German Americans from Little Germany, Manhattan) to a church picnic. An estimated 1,021 of the 1,342 people on board died, the victims were mostly women and children. The General Slocum disaster was the New York area's worst disaster in terms of loss of life until the September 11, 2001 attacks, and remains the worst maritime disaster in the city's history. The events surrounding the General Slocum fire have appeared in a number of books, plays and movies.

Those attending the ceremony can enter the gate opposite the Middle Village Post Office and there will be signs directing you to the ceremony site. ALL ARE WELCOME.