KC packs meals to mark 25 years since 9/11
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Kansas City is packing meals for hungry families Friday to mark 25 years since the Sept. 11 attacks, and organizers are still looking for hands.
Why it matters: 9/11 Day, the nonprofit behind the national day of service, is bringing the event to Kansas City for the first time. It roughly doubled the number of host cities this year, from about two dozen last year to more than 50.
Flashback: Six months after the attacks, Jay Winuk, whose brother Glenn died as a volunteer firefighter and EMT at the World Trade Center, and his friend David Paine set out to turn the day into a mission to do good.
- Congress made Sept. 11 a National Day of Service and Remembrance in 2009. The group's first meal pack came in 2016, when 1,600 volunteers in New York packed 503,000 meals, per 9/11 Day.
By the numbers: KC's goal is 193,000 meals with more than 600 volunteers, event manager Heather Collins tells Axios.
- Nationally, the group expects 50,000 volunteers to pack 17 million meals for hunger relief groups in the host cities, in what it calls the largest single-day meal pack in American history.
What they're saying: "Since Kansas City is deeply rooted in giving back to the community, our town fosters that same sense of unity that 9/11 Day is all about," says Collins, who pushed to add KC.
How it works: Volunteers assemble shelf-stable meal kits, typically rice, lentils and dehydrated vegetables for a jambalaya-style dish. Kansas City's meals go to Kanbe's Markets, which will distribute them across the metro.
- KC's listing is still recruiting crew members 18 and older to set up the room, check volunteers in, keep the lines moving, restock tables and box and stack the finished meals.
- No experience is needed. Training happens on site, and you can work one shift or the whole day.
If you go: The event runs 10:30am to 3pm at T-Mobile Center. Sign up online, and plan on at least four hours.
Other ways to mark the day: Overland Park firefighters lay flowers at the city's 9/11 memorial from 7:45am to 9:30am, timed to each moment of impact. The memorial holds a 14-foot steel beam from the towers and a wall carved with every victim's name.
- The Truman Library in Independence fires a howitzer salute at 8:30am with Independence firefighters. The observance runs until 10am and asks visitors to register.
- The Kansas City VA Medical Center holds a flag ceremony at 10am.
The bottom line: A quarter-century later, remembering Sept. 11 has also become a call to serve.