The University of Florida recognized the nation’s largest annual day of service and remembrance Friday with a campus‑wide volunteer event assembling care packages for first responders and military personnel.
The Gator Day of Service for 9/11 Day, held at the Plaza of the Americas, was organized by the Brown Center for Leadership and Service and the Collegiate Veterans Success Center.
Volunteers worked in half‑hour shifts to pack non-perishable food, toiletries, leisure items and handwritten thank‑you cards. Organizers said the project was designed to honor the legacy of Sept. 11, 2001, while supporting those who continue to serve today.
Care packages will be delivered to Alachua County Fire Rescue and Gainesville Fire Rescue, with additional boxes sent overseas through Soldiers’ Angels to active‑duty military personnel.
Devyn Palmer, UF international studies senior, wanted to volunteer for the 9/11 Gator Day of Service because as an ROTC, Reserve Officers' Training Corps, honoring and giving back to service members is really important to her.
“Service members are really important to me and so I wanted to kind of give back on this day,” Palmer said. “Recognize the service members for everything they did during 9/11, and, of course, like, everything they've done since.”
Although it was Palmer’s first time volunteering for the event, she said she wanted to find something meaningful to do on 9/11 and hopes to return for future service days. She said she met up with members of her club, the Public Leadership Society, and they went through the line together to assemble care packages.
They chose to send theirs to service members and filled them with toiletries, snacks and a handwritten note. She said they chose to send their package to deployed service members because those far away might need a small piece of home the most.
With no nearby military base, she said students don’t often get the chance to connect with service members directly, so sending care packages felt like a meaningful way to reach them from afar.
“I think that toiletries are definitely gonna be useful for them, so that was important that we incorporate some, like, useful items as well,” Palmer said. “It's a really good opportunity for us to, like, still connect with them, even from afar.”
She said that 9/11 reminds her how important it is to support the military and the people who protect the country. She said the attacks led to major changes in national security and military operations, and that staying prepared and backing service members matters because they train every day for situations most people never see.
“I definitely wanted to pick the service members rather than first responders, just because I am, like, involved with the military,” she said. “I know, like, how hard it is for service members and, like, how much work they put in, like, day to day.”
She added that her club, the Public Leadership Society, hopes to keep participating in service events, especially on days like 9/11 that carry a strong sense of remembrance for her.
Across six shifts, 186 volunteers registered, according to GivePulse data. Attendance ranged from 16 to 37 participants per session, with most shifts nearing capacity.
Phoebe Davis, a UF graphic design and marketing junior who serves as a photographer for the media side of the Gator Day of Gratitude, said she feels that 9/11 is often recognized as important but that there isn’t as much recognition about how it has impacted service members.
“I like how this event focuses on the service members who sacrificed, and then gives recognition to the service members, who are putting their lives on the line every day, to further benefit the safety of all of us as Americans,” she said. “This is a great way to kind of ground the service members as, like, the center of the conversation.”
Davis said she would love to participate in this event again because she feels it is important to give back to the people who choose to serve to protect Americans and contribute to her safety.
“Just being able to give back to them, in the menial way that we can through, like, gifting little goody bags,” Davis said. “I feel like that means a lot, because it shows, like, we see you, because they're, of course, always looking out for us.”
As a first‑generation student whose parents immigrated to the United States after 9/11, she said she learned about the attacks mostly through classes and documentaries. She said her perspective feels different from peers whose parents remember the day firsthand, since she grew up hearing about it through teaching rather than family stories.
“I recognize that, as an American, I'm being benefited every day by the people who choose to serve and protect us,” Davis said. “I'm just giving back, I love doing volunteering.”
The event drew participants from across UF, including students from UF Online and volunteers affiliated with the Brown Center. GivePulse records show that the 186 positions filled, contributed to 49 recorded impacts and 25 total service hours. The platform estimated the event’s economic impact at $900.
Sponsors included 9/11 Day, AmeriCorps, the Brown Center and the CVSC. The initiative was part of a national effort encouraging communities to engage in service, remembrance and gratitude on Sept. 11.
Gaudel Saint Hilaire, a UF sustainability and the built environment junior, is serving as a student assistant and site leader for the Brown Center for Leadership & Service. His role at the event includes videographing for the event’s marketing side, assisting with tabling, bringing in the bands, the cards and collecting them.
Saint Hilaire said he didn’t expect so many people to participate in the event and was pleasantly surprised with the turnout.
“As we were just finishing setting up, we saw already, like, a large crowd here, and I was like, shocked,” he said. “That's amazing. So, yeah, I'm actually pleasantly surprised with the amount of people coming.”
He said transporting supplies took some effort, since loading vans with boxes and tents was more complicated than expected. Even so, the team managed to bring everything to the Plaza of the Americas and unload it on site, making sure volunteers had what they needed throughout the event.
He said his role gives him the chance to work directly with community members, companies and local organizations, and to see the impact those partnerships have across Gainesville.
Leading a team on these service excursions, he said, has made the work even more meaningful and makes him want to participate in future events.
“I love my role,” he said. “I get to interact with actual community members and, obviously, companies, organizations and not only learn about them, but see how much impact they're also leading on the local community.”
He said the shock of 9/11 still stands out in national memory, recalling how the country paused as people watched the attacks on television. What he admires most, he said, is how quickly Americans came together afterward, supporting those who were hurt and those affected in the years that followed.
“9/11 for me, represents probably one of the darkest chapters in recent American history,” Saint Hilaire said. “The greatest day, following up, was the next day when, instead of being led by that shock and that mourning, we stayed all unified to pick ourselves together, and truly united as Americans.”
Now, a quarter century later, he said it remains important that people continue to learn about the event and understand how it shaped the nation moving forward.
“But now celebrating its 25th, near the quarter of a century,” he said. “Seeing that so many people still vividly remember, and not forget, is something important.”
UF organizers said the dual‑distribution model, supporting both local first responders and deployed military personnel, was meant to connect campus volunteers to service members at home and abroad.
Students were encouraged to participate not only to support first responders and service members, but also to build skills and experience that count toward their Gator Experience Record.
Event organizers promoted the service day as a chance for students to strengthen teamwork and communication abilities while connecting with peers who share an interest in community engagement.
GivePulse listed 60 remaining spots at the start of the day, and registration stayed open until each shift ended.