Volunteers from all over the Bay Area have come to San José State’s Provident Credit Union Event Center to volunteer and remember the 9/11 tragedy on Wednesday.
Bay Area Meal Pack for 9/11 Day is an event hosted by 9/11 family members and partners with Americorps, according to the 9/11 Meal Pack website.
More than 800 volunteers pack 250,000 meals for people facing food insecurities, according to the SJSU Events Calendar.
The day, 9/11, is when Americans remember the tragic events that occurred on Sept. 11, 2001.
In New York City a group of terrorists by the name of al-Qaeda hijacked 4 commercial planes and 2 of those planes crashed into the Twin Towers. The third plane crashed into the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia and the fourth plane crashed into an empty field in Pennsylvania, according to the 9/11 Memorial & Museum.
David Paine and Jay Winuk established the nonprofit event in 2002 after Winuk’s younger brother died while responding to the terrorist attacks on Sep. 11, 2001, according to the 9/11 Day website.
Richard Wald, a board member of 9/11 Day, said he hopes that the organization will be in 25 cities by the 25th Anniversary.
Currently, the event is in 21 cities with 30,000 volunteers, according to the same 9/11 Meal Pack website.
“This is our first year in San José (and) based on this turnout, we are going to be here for many many years,” Wald said.
For San José, all the meals packaged will be donated to Second Harvest of Silicon Valley, according to the 9/11 Day website.
“(The food is) not being shipped out, (it’s) staying here and in every city,” Wald said. “It’s staying in their local area which I just think is so powerful.”
Selina Salvador-Lopez, a sophomore social work student, was among those students who attended this event.
“I chose to come out today because I enjoy volunteering in general,” Salvador-Lopez said. “I feel this was a great opportunity to connect with the San José community just because I am not from here.”
Christian Rodriguez, an Americorps and City Year member in the Bay Area, said these organizations’ focus is to serve eastern Palo Alto and the Silicon Valley area in community events and support the community as much as possible.
AmeriCorps is a local, state and national network service program that works with Americans to meet their community needs in areas such as education, environment, public safety, health and homeland security.
AmeriCorps also collaborated with non-profits, public agencies and community organizations, according to the AmeriCorps website.
City Year is a national service program that works to unite young adults from all sorts of backgrounds to work in community service events.
City Year strives to help young people develop skills such as problem-solving, leadership and more active citizens, according to the City Year website.
“(Volunteers) are packing up meals for a total of (around) 8 million meals nationwide so we are just helping facilitate that,” Rodriguez said. “They are ready-to-go meals that include vegetables, lentils, rice, and vitamin packets.”
Frank Belcastro, captain of the University Police Department, Captain said he recounted his experience on 9/11 as a commanding officer of a Borough task force in New York.
“It was a horrendous day, I will never forget the uncommon valor of the first responders who gave their lives saving others,” Belcastro said. “I need you to remember that those sacrifices continue to this day.”
Mayor Matt Mahan discussed two things that came out of the tragic events of 9/11 that he has carried since the said tragedy.
“Number one, there was a beautiful period of unity that we can continue to work to recapture. We transcended party lines, we were no longer Democrats, Republicans, urban, rural, race, gender or religion…” Mahan said. “Second, and you are all a part of (this), is the number of people that were inspired to engage in service of some form.”
Members from corporations such as the Technology Credit Union and the Bridge Bank division of Western Alliance Banks were present at this event.
Fred Voss, senior managing director from the Bridge Bank division of Western Alliance Banks talked about the company's value and its alignment to this event.
“Western Alliance Bank tries to be very involved in the community and we are very proud that it is part of our heritage so this was a natural day for us,” Voss said.
With the turnout Richard Wald mentioned, Tech CU hopes the event continues each year in the Bay Area.
Bay Area 9/11 Meal Pack was able to meet its goal of packaging 250,000 meal packs and contributing to the total amount of 8,600,000 meals nationwide, according to Wald.
Cathy Casa, assistant vice president from Tech CU and a volunteer at this event, talked about what this opportunity means to her team present.
“This is our first event for Technology Credit Union and 9/11 day and we are very excited. I am just hoping we can continue to participate in this event and support this organization and its initiatives,” said Casa.
SJSU President Cynthia Teniente-Matson spoke on the impact this event will have as a whole.
“Seeing all of you here today fill the event center is proof that together we can move mountains and every good deed no matter how small has the potential to change lives and leave a positive impact. Thank you for being here today,” Teniente-Matson said.
