MARANA, Ariz. (KGUN) — 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."
Packing food and loading it onto the trunks of cars was David Casillas, a five-year volunteer. Casillas says he was in Washington D.C. on 9/11 working on Capitol Hill.
“It was very dramatic there," Casillas described. "They shut down the city and we were stuck in the city for the whole day when they were supposed to be bombing the Capitol. So, it was a very interesting time for us. We could actually watch the Pentagon burn from our office building."
Motivated to give back, Casillas adds how he plans to volunteer for many more years.
“There's no better way to give back than to actually go out there and do it," said Casillas.
ICS says anyone who didn’t get to drop off their donations today can still stop by any of the following three locations to donate Thursday:
- Northwest Food Bank, 2820 W. Ina Road, on the campus of Christ the King Episcopal Church
- 8701 E. Old Spanish Trail, on the campus of New Spirit Lutheran Church
- 122 N. Craycroft Road, on the campus of Rincon Congregational UCC
ICS accepts donations year-round at the Northwest Food Bank.
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Jacqueline Aguilar is a multimedia journalist at KGUN 9. Born and raised in Yuma, AZ., she is no stranger to the unforgiving Arizona heat. Now this U of A wildcat is excited to be back in Tucson and is looking forward to involving herself in the community. Share your story ideas with Jacqueline by emailing jacqueline.aguilar@kgun9.com or connecting on Facebook, Instagram or X.
