What started with planning, supplies, and a shared idea came to life through people. Over the course of our 9/11 Day service initiative, WeReach staff, volunteers, community partners, and young people came together to create something that went far beyond preparing backpacks. It became a project about showing up for one another, creating connections, and giving young people a role in spreading kindness throughout their own communities.
It Started Behind the Scenes
Before a single backpack reached a child, there were hours of preparation. Our team and volunteers organized supplies, built school-readiness kits, packed essential resources, prepared materials, and worked side by side to get everything ready. Every package represented many hands working toward the same goal.
The packing days gave us our first glimpse of what this initiative was really about: people coming together, contributing their time, and turning service into something tangible.
Then We Got to Share It With the Kids
The most rewarding part came when we were able to spend time directly with the young people. They received the backpacks our volunteers had worked so hard to prepare, but the experience was never meant to end with simply handing something over.
We wanted the kids to be part of the service too. Together, we sat down, colored, wrote, laughed, and created kindness cards filled with messages for other people in the community.
Kindness Became the Activity
- Some cards had drawings.
- Some had words of encouragement.
- Some were colorful, simple, funny, or heartfelt.
What mattered was that each one was created by a young person with someone else in mind. Through “Keep One. Share the Rest.”, the children were encouraged to keep one message for themselves and pass the others along — to a friend, teacher, neighbor, family member, or anyone who might need a kind word.
For us, that was one of the most powerful moments of the entire project. The kids were not only receiving support. They were creating impact themselves.
The Impact Was in the Moments
The numbers help tell part of the story:
- 100+ volunteers participated.
- 84+ Community Resilience & School Readiness Packages were prepared and distributed.
- Hundreds of kindness messages were created.
- Approximately 475 people were reached through the broader initiative. But the real impact was also visible in smaller moments.
- A volunteer carefully checking a backpack.
- A child choosing colors for a card.
- Staff sitting beside kids and creating together.
- A backpack being opened with excitement.
- A young person deciding who they wanted to give their next card to.
Those are the moments we will remember.
Remembering Through Service
The 25th anniversary of September 11 gave this project a deeper meaning. For many of the young people who participated, 9/11 is something they know through history rather than personal memory.
Through service, they were able to connect with another part of its legacy: the compassion, unity, generosity, and willingness to help others that followed.
That is what we hoped to carry forward. Not only remembrance. Action. Connection. Kindness.
Thank You for Being Part of It
This project was made possible by the people who showed up.
To our volunteers, staff, community partners, supporters, and especially the young people who brought their creativity and energy to the experience — thank you.
You helped transform an idea into something real. And most importantly, you helped kindness keep moving.
One project. Hundreds of hands. A ripple of kindness across our community. Keep One. Share the Rest. 💙
