In honor of the 9/11 National Day of Service and Remembrance, Interfaith Community Services (ICS) hosted a food drive at three locations across Tucson this morning. To address the rising food costs in southern Arizona, they invited the community to donate food items to help those in need.
Hope Forrest was one of many who donated food to ICS. She volunteers with the non-profit by delivering meals to those in need or at the food bank. Forrest lived in Long Island, NY when the 9/11 attacks happened.
“And I saw the towers going down on 9/11, so it means a lot to me,” Forrest said.
ICS’s CEO, Tom McKinney, tells me on this day last year ICS gathered over 11,000 pounds of food, diapers and baby wipes. McKinney says he was inspired to work in the nonprofit sector after 9/11.
“Every day you kind of get that same feeling of, ‘how can we help those that are going through a tough time?'” McKinney said. “So, while it was horrific and horrible, I think that the amount of people that serve in so many ways is not highlighted enough.”