United Way of East Central Iowa honors 9/11 by preparing for the future
Events throughout the country on Saturday honored the lives lost and scarifies made on September 11th, 2001.
In eastern Iowa, the United Way of East Central Iowa commemorated the 20th anniversary with a service project.
Over 70 volunteers participated in putting together disaster preparedness kits that will be handed out to the vulnerable members of the community.
"We're remembering what happened 20 years ago on 9/11, but at the same time, also taking that knowledge and what we learned from that day and moving forward and being able to help prepare for emergencies," said president and CEO, Kristin Roberts.
Following the events of that September day, Roberts said there was an overwhelming sense of people wanting to help, like how Iowans came together last summer following the derecho.
"When there is a disaster, there's really this overwhelming sense of being able to help in some way," said Roberts, ""I think we saw that obviously 9/11. 20 years ago, but if we even look 1 year ago after the derecho, we saw that same spirit come out of people."
One of the volunteers in the crowd was Zander Franks. He said he couldn't pass up an opportunity to help his community.
"I'm volunteering to help make packs for any other disaster such as if there was another flood or another derecho," said Franks.
Over 1,000 kits consisted of non-perishable foods, water bottles, flashlights and first aid kits. All items senior manager of volunteer engagement, Angelica, Vannatta said are good to have around.
"We are often times very stressed about the situation at hand so it's really handy to have all of these things all together," said Vannatta.
One-by-one, each item made its way into a Ziploc bag to help people be prepared for the worst-case scenario.
"You never know when a disaster is going to strike," said Roberts.
