On September 10, 2009, to kick off the first National Day of Remembrance and Service, the September 11th Families’ Association and the USO organized “Operation USO Care Package.” Over 400 volunteers came together at 7 World Trade Center to stuff care packages. The day’s volunteers represented a wide range of companies affected by 9/11, including AON; Bank of NY Mellon; Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft
LLP; Cantor Fitzgerald; Deutsche Bank; the FDNY; JPMorgan Chase; the National September 11 Memorial & Museum; the NYPD; the Port Authority of NY & NJ; Sandler O’Neill & Partners; Silverstein Properties; Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP; and students from the NYC High School for Leadership & Public Service.
After being welcomed by the September 11th Families’ Association, My Good Deed, the USO, and Silverstein Properties, the volunteers formed assembly lines, quickly filling care packages. These morale-boosting packages contained toiletries, prepaid international phone cards, snacks, playing cards and personal messages of support from our volunteers.
Operation USO Care Package
“The event was a tremendous success for our partners and the USO. The day before the anniversary was a perfect opportunity to remember those we lost and provide a service for our troops. There was a feeling of positive energy among all the volunteers,” said Jennifer Adams CEO of the September 11th Families’ Association. Ron Wise, Director of the Operation USO Care Package Program, called the group “the most wonderful volunteers that we have ever had the pleasure to take part in an event with. The final number of care packages created was 7,229. No one has ever done it faster, and we were honored to take part in the event.” Operation USO Care Package began in 2003 and has shipped more than 1.6 million care packages.
