Thousands of volunteers help fight hunger by participating in "9/11 Day"
NEW YORK - An annual tradition had thousands of people making their way to New York City on Monday to make a difference.
It's known as 9/11 Day, and it's become the country's largest day of charitable service.
They came to the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum in droves to lend a helping hand, reflect and remember not just the bad that came from the 9/11 attacks, but the good days that followed, when the country unified in moments too valuable to waste and should rather be recreated.
"It's kind of making an evil thing good," one person told CBS2's John Dias.
"We're here just showing our respect for 9/11 and everyone who, unfortunately, lost family and loved ones," Tribeca resident Dulaney Hassan said.
Not waiting for another tragedy to strike before coming together, thousands of volunteers worked side-by-side in assembly lines on the Intrepid to pack boxes of food for pantries citywide.
The mission is to pack 1 million meals.
"It's a great day to come together as a country," one volunteer said.
Knowing quite well some light came from the darkest days our country endured, co-founder of 9/11 Day Jay Winuk says he wants to mirror those efforts every year.
"Having suffered a direct loss, we could see what was happening in the country and it was an amazing phenomenon, nothing like I had ever seen before. People putting aside their differences, focusing in on our common humanity," he said.
Winuk's brother died on 9/11. He says he wishes he could have seen how the country bonded.
"Which, of course, has dissipated. We live in very divided times now, but we encourage, at least on this one day a year, for people to come together again in that spirit," Winuk said.
With so much despair on 9/11, the world somehow kept rotating. Babies were born, like Avon, Connecticut, resident Thomas Howard, who now spends his birthday volunteering with his mother, Michelle.
"We feel blessed that we had new life on such a tragic day, so we want to give back to the community," she said.
This event is also happening in other major cities across the country, and since it started back in 2016, more than 20 million meals have been packed.
