SevenDays and Pay It Forward 9/11 bring kindness together

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. — The 9/11 memorials scheduled for Wednesday will mark the 23rd anniversary of the attacks at the Twin Towers, Pentagon, and in Pennsylvania where nearly 3,000 people were killed and many more were impacted in other ways.

While 9/11/01 reminds Americans of terror in New York City, April 13, 2014 shows us when another hateful attack came to Overland Park.

Three people were killed in shootings at a Jewish Community Center and retirement community by a person who was a former Klansman and neo-Nazi.

Two organizations born out of those tragedies came together this week to continue their efforts to fight hate.

“There are awful things in the world that many of us can’t do anything about but you can do something in your own community that’s kind,” said SevenDays’ Director of Media and Community Relations Ruth Baum Bigus.

SevenDays was created after the 2014 shootings to spread kindness.

It’s a remarkably similar mission to Pay It Forward 9/11 , which was created after Kevin Tuerff was stranded in Gander, Newfoundland in Canada on 9/11 when his plane was grounded. Roughly 7,000 travelers and their 38 planes suddenly descended in a city of roughly 9,000 people and inspired the Broadway show Come From Away .

“These people opened up their hearts, their homes, they opened up everything,” said Pay It Forward 9/11 Board Member Ben Walker. “They fed, they clothed, and they nourished people spiritually and I just think that what those people in Gander did exemplifies the best of what we’d like to happen in Kansas City and around the world.”

Every year, Pay It Forward 9/11 encourages people to do random acts of kindness in the days leading up to 9/11.

“It doesn’t have to be a big thing, but three acts of kindness as you go about your day,” said Walker.

Walker is Tuerff’s friend, and was stranded in Toronto when the northern border closed after 9/11. After being unable to fly home for a few days, he eventually crossed the border into Buffalo and drove 29 hours home to Texas.

This year, SevenDays’ Kindness Youth Leadership Team members helped the Overland Park Fire Department clean up its 9/11 memorial before its 9/11 ceremony Wednesday.

“These kids…weren’t even born when 9/11 happened but they can relate to something really awful even by being involved with us and the three people who lost their lives because of a hateful act,” Baum Bigus said.

“For me, it’s very close,” Walker said. “I remember exactly what happened to me that day. But these kids don’t have that so they need human ways to connect with what happened on 9/11.”

Two organizations born from single days that show the worst of humanity, showing how people can be better.

“Hopefully to empower them and be kindness influencers and say, ‘You don’t have to go down that road. Follow me and we’ll do it together,” Baum Bigus said.

You can find Pay It Forward 9/11’s chart showing where people have committed to doing acts of kindness here .

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