WHITESBORO, NY (WKTV) - More than 300 gathered Friday morning at Harts Hill Inn in Whitesboro to commemorate the anniversary of 9/11.

It's been eight years now since the attacks, but the feelings inside the 8th Annual Regional Prayer Breakfast are still the same. However, some say the feelings on the street, for some people, aren't as vivid."

"If you recall eight years ago, people had flags in their window, flags on their house, everybody came together," said Ray Durso of the Genesis Group, which organized the breakfast. "Well, we should have that type of pride everyday. And there are people in our community and across the country who risk their lives for our safety, for our freedom on a daily basis. So, it's important for us, as a community to come together and celebrate on this day."

The annual Regional Prayer Breakfast is put on by the Genesis Group, whose goal is to promote the Mohawk Valley. Durso, who is the head of the Genesis Group, says there wouldn't be a Mohawk Valley without the brave men and women who serve here, who serve in New York City, and all across the United States.

Friday's keynote speaker was Utica Fire Chief Russell Brooks, who said the thoughts of 9/11 are with first responders, on every call, on every stairway they may have to go up.

"As each of these brave men and women entered the stairwell, as they went into the lobby of the World Trade Center, they went down on one knee quickly, and the New York City Fire Chaplain Michael Judge blessed them, and gave them absolution for their sins , as they began their assent of that stairwell," Chief Brooks said.

A further example of how life can change in an instant for first responders - the chaplain of the Rome Fire Department also spoke Friday, talking about the chaplain of a Long Island Fire Department who lost his life responding to a fire, just two days ago.