At The Common Ground at Rotary Park in Sayville, there is now a circular stone brick patio with three granite benches surrounding a stone carved with the word "Remember."

The benches, a memorial commemorating the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, are engraved with phrases honoring those who died and calling for a hopeful future.

The project, installed Wednesday, was funded and overseen by the Sgt. James P. Bast Foundation, a nonprofit whose namesake was an NYPD officer who spent months working at Ground Zero after the attacks. He died in 2020 from 9/11-related cancer.

Bast’s widow, Kristin, helps run the nonprofit and spearheaded the project in hopes that it would help future generations remember the attacks and commemorate those who have been impacted by 9/11-related diseases.

“For us, it was really a way to give back to the community and also to honor the lives lost not only on that day, but personally for us, the lives lost since," she said. “Just so many have and continue to lose their lives to those complications."

Kristin Bast said the nonprofit has spent roughly $47,500 on the memorial to date. It pitched the idea during the winter and got backing from the board of The Common Ground — the nonprofit that runs the park — and Islip Town.

The Bast Foundation raises money by hosting an annual golf tournament at the West Sayville Country Club, which Kristin Bast said usually gets more than 140 participants each year.

Friends and community members, with Kristin Bast's support, organized the first golf tournament as a way to honor her husband after he died at the age of 49.

“It was their idea to do something in his honor and memory, and they thought a golf outing would be a really nice, special way of doing that," she said.

James P. Bast was stationed in Brooklyn during 9/11 and first arrived at Ground Zero the day after the attack. He spent roughly eight months at the site helping with the search, rescue and recovery efforts, his widow said.

After Bast retired in 2013 following 23 years with the department, he noticed what he thought was a planter’s wart on his heel. It turned out to be melanoma that spread into his spine and brain in the following years.

He left behind his wife and three children — James, Thomas and Megan.

James Bast is a 28-year-old officer with the NYPD who took his dad’s badge number. At the park on Wednesday, he credited his mother for creating the memorial and recalled playing baseball with his father in the same neighborhood.

“My mom had a vision for a place to come and reflect on 25 years since the Sept. 11 attacks," he said. “The whole nation remembers, and I particularly remember my dad. Across the street, we played baseball here. This is home to us."

Megan Bast, 24, told Newsday her dad would be pleased with how the memorial turned out.

“I know this is making him feel proud right now," she said. “He sacrificed everything for all of us and he loved our community so much."

Kristin Bast said Wednesday marked the end of “Phase 1” of the memorial project. She said they plan on new landscaping for the area in the future.

By Sam Kmack

sam.kmack@newsday.com

Sam Kmack covers the Town of Islip for Newsday. He is a graduate of the University of Southern California and previously worked as a city watchdog reporter in the Phoenix metro area, as well as an investigative journalist at the Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting.