Niece of 9/11 victim joins Atlanta volunteers honoring lives lost through service
More than 1,800 volunteers gathered at the Chick-fil-A College Football Hall of Fame in downtown Atlanta on Friday to turn remembrance into service.
Organizers with Hands On Atlanta and 9/11 Day said volunteers prepared meals for families facing food insecurity in honor of the 2,977 people killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Groups of roughly 600 to 700 volunteers worked in shifts throughout the day. Among those watching was Kiara Lum, associate director of partnerships and development for 9/11 Day. Her uncle, William Lum, was killed in the World Trade Center.
"Their offices were on floors 93 through 100 in the North Tower. He really had no chance," Lum said. "I think 358 employees from Marsh McLennan died that day."
Lum described her uncle as the oldest of five brothers and "the rock of the family and the glue of the family."
She said seeing volunteers pack and load food for families in need brought her comfort as she reflected on her uncle's life.
"He enjoyed traveling and bringing people into the city and showing them around, bringing them to his favorite restaurants and bringing them to the top of the World Trade Center," Lum said.
Hands On Atlanta and 9/11 Day organized the "Unite for Good" project to transform grief into community service.
"When you think about the opportunity for these volunteers to feel like they are giving back to the community, they feel like they have a place for redistributing hope and redistributing help," Hands On Atlanta President and CEO Naomi Green said.
Green said the project reflected the volunteer efforts that emerged after the attacks.
"I was looking at a lot of stories after 9/11 about community volunteers in New York and across the country, and it is exactly the activity that they picked," Green said. "The cathedral that is closest to Ground Zero for eight months turned into a volunteer action center where meals were distributed to front-line workers."
Green said about 50,000 volunteers nationwide were expected to pack more than 17 million meals as part of the project.
More information about volunteering is available through Hands On Atlanta and 9/11 Day.
