LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Greater than 30 million Individuals throughout the nation honored 9/11, not simply by remembering, however by serving. Right here in Las Vegas, tons of of volunteers turned out for the 9/11 Nationwide Day of Service Meal Pack occasion.
This yr is the primary time the occasion has been held in Las Vegas.
Sept. 11, 2001, was one of many darkest days in American historical past. Twenty-four years later, it has develop into one of many greatest days of service within the nation.
“I think what’s really incredible is you wake up with this heaviness, realizing the magnitude of this day, and then you get to come to something like this, where you see that people are taking all of that emotion, the challenge, and the weight of that experience and transforming it into a day of service. It really is something beautiful,” Elizabeth Hunterton, Chief Growth Officer for Three Sq. Meals Financial institution, mentioned.
Annually, nationwide nonprofit 9/11 Day packs tens of millions of meals for households in want. This yr, Las Vegas organizations, companies, and group companions joined in.
“We have 600 volunteers. Those 600 volunteers are going to pack over 160,000 meals that are going to come to Three Square and stay at the food pantry here at UNLV,” Hunterton mentioned.
Greater than 26,000 kilos of oats and brown sugar moved down the meeting line – scooped, stuffed, and packaged – earlier than reaching households throughout the valley.
For a lot of volunteers, the day of service introduced again uncooked reminiscences.
“Oh gosh, I’m sorry, I’m getting goosebumps thinking about it,” Hunterton mentioned, combating again tears. “I remember everything about that day like every single American who was there to witness that footage.”
“Oh, I remember it very clearly,” volunteer John Feustel, a Senior Challenge Supervisor at PENTA, mentioned. “I was actually at the DA’s office working, and I saw it on television, and everybody was in awe; we could not believe what was happening, especially when the second plane entered the building, then we knew something was very wrong.”
Michael Massaro, who can be a PENTA senior undertaking supervisor, echoed the identical.
“I remember it vividly,” Massaro mentioned. “They showed it up on the television of the planes crashing into the first tower.”
For Las Vegans, the unity after 9/11 echoes reminiscences of the town’s personal tragedies.
“What we saw after Oct. 1 was very reminiscent of what we saw after 9/11 – that unity and that common good that bound us all together in this belief in humanity,” Hunterton mentioned.
Madelyn Kennedy, a UNLV Pom Squad member and junior hospitality administration pupil, attended UNLV in the course of the campus capturing again in December 2023.
“After every tragic thing that happens, the community comes back together, and Las Vegas is a great example of that,” Kennedy mentioned.
A testomony that we will bear in mind, serve, and stand – Vegas stronger.
“In the end, we’re always going to be Vegas Stronger than we are anything else,” Hunterton mentioned.
