The seventh annual 9/11 Day was held Monday at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in Manhattan to mark the 22nd year since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
With more than 4,500 volunteers at the Intrepid and millions more around the country, 9/11 Day is now the largest volunteer service project held in the nation to observe the 9/11 attacks.
The 9/11 Day volunteers at the Intrepid will also be working in shifts on Tuesday and aim to pack 1.5 million meals collectively for City Harvest and the Food Bank for New York City over the two-day period. The meals will go to families and individuals who are at risk of hunger across the five boroughs.
The meal pack in New York City is just one of 18 around the country. All told, there are 20,000 volunteers who will pack a record 6.5 million meals for Americans across the nation for this year’s 9/11 Day.
Jay Winuk, co-founder of 9/11 Day, told amNewYork Metro that what the volunteers were doing on the Intrepid Monday was just the tip of the iceberg of what was happening all over the U.S.
“We, with the help of a lot of others, we have grown the September 11 National Day of Service and Remembrance into the nation’s largest annual day of charitable engagement,” Winuk said. “That was always the goal — to get people to do good deeds in a way that reflected the way people came together after the attacks.”
Winuk said he remembered how people came together following the attacks to focus on their common humanity and did everything they could to get the country back up on its feet.
“That was really a global phenomenon,” Winuk said. “Now years later, it seems more relevant than ever, given the divided times we’re in and how many people are in need.”
Winuk himself lost his brother, Glenn J. Winuk, an attorney at the Holland & Knight law firm and volunteer firefighter and EMT, on 9/11. Glenn’s office was just a couple blocks away at 195 Broadway, and he was tragically killed in the line of duty responding to the attacks when the World Trade Center South Tower collapsed.
“He was really highly skilled as a first responder and had responded in ’93 when the Trade Center was bombed,” Winuk said.
Winuk recalled that on 9/11, Glenn was in his Midtown apartment getting ready for work when the first plane hit. Glenn had raced downtown and upstairs to his law offices, and helped evacuate those offices. He then borrowed a first responder kit from workers on the scene and headed on foot into the South Tower to save lives.
“He’s somebody who lived his life in service to other people and died in service to other people,” Winuk said. “I wanted to do something that reflected the way Glenn lived his life because he was a great guy and heroic and caring in every aspect of his life.”
Winuk and David Paine co-founded the nonprofit six months after Sept. 11, 2001 to transform the 9/11 anniversary into a nationwide day of “doing good” to honor those who were lost and injured as well as those who rose in service on 9/11.
9/11 Day had successfully advocated for the passage of legislation in 2009 that officially established September 11 as an annually-observed National Day of Service and Remembrance under federal law. More than 30 million Americans now observe 9/11 Day in service for their communities.
Paine said that following the 9/11 attacks, Americans saw more commonalties with their neighbors and “our innate kindness, compassion, and concern for the well-being of others.”
“9/11 Day is about rekindling that spirit of compassion, and bringing it forward in our lives as a reminder of who we really are as people,” Paine said.
For the first time ever, 9/11 Day and AmeriCorps brought meal-packing volunteer events to 11 college campuses.
“Young people and college students can get involved without even having to leave campus,” Winuk said. “So that’s really exciting for us, and we’re gonna really grow that and add more colleges over the next few years leading up to the 25th anniversary of 9/11.”
More than 120 companies from the Tri-State Area, including JPMorgan Chase, Citi, KPMG, Fox Corporation, Major League Baseball, Pfizer, and Merrill Lynch, have sent their employees to volunteer for 9/11 Day at the Intrepid. This year’s co-hosts are the 9/11 Memorial & Museum, City Harvest, Food Bank for New York City, NYC Service, and New York Cares.
Winuk shared other ways people can get involved on or around 9/11, including donating to their favorite charity, visiting the elderly, and spending time with people who might need a friend.
“All acts of good deeds are part of this observance and are meaningful,” Winuk said. “That whole notion seems to really resonate with Americans. They want to do something appropriate and meaningful on the anniversary each year.”
