Young people clean the Overland Park Fire Department's 9/11 memorial as an act of charity

KANSAS CITY, Missouri – Teens volunteering through SevenDays did a good deed Monday by cleaning the entire area of ​​the 9/11 memorial in Overland Park.

Her service was part of a collaboration between SevenDays' Kindness Youth Leadership Team and Pay It Forward 9/11, a national organization dedicated to restoring goodness to people following the September 11 attacks.

“SevenDays is a local organization that also emerged from tragedy, and their goal is to make Kansas City a kinder and more tolerant place,” said Ben Walker, board member of Pay it Forward 9/11.

SevenDays was founded after an anti-Semite murdered three people in Overland Park in 2014. The murderer targeted members of the Jewish community.

Since then, the organization has been working to increase the number of kind and loving acts in the metropolitan area.

Monday's relief effort coincides with Pay it Forward 9/11's #11DaysofKindness, which encourages individuals, businesses and schools to come together from September 1 to 11. The program ends on National Remembrance Day, September 11.

Walker says it's important to note that good deeds don't have to be done exclusively during this period.

“All the work we've done here, all the outreach we've done here, the people of Kansas City are just responding to it,” Walker said. “And that's why we're here, because we really believe we're making a difference in the community.”

The Overland Park 9/11 Memorial consists of several artifacts from the 9/11 site, including granite floor tiles from the Twin Towers, a 14-foot-tall, 2.5-ton piece of steel beam recovered from the rubble, and a

Sacrificial plaque with almost 3,000 names of the people who died on this day in alphabetical order,

Rachel Henderson/KSHB 41

Rachel Henderson/KSHB 41

Rachel Henderson/KSHB 41

There are four interpretive panels, each telling the story of one of the September 11 plane crashes. There is also a tear fountain on the wall, created by a local artist, that recreates people with crying faces covered in white powder.

Rachel Henderson/KSHB 41

Rachel Henderson/KSHB 41

“I think it means a lot to me to return to the site of a memorial that the community has put so much work into preserving and just bring it back to life a little bit,” says Lasya Kambhampati, a recent college graduate who has been volunteering with SevenDays since she was in high school.

Rachel Henderson/KSHB 41

Kambhampati was accompanied by her brother Ahbi, who joined the group after watching his sister in service for years.

“Seeing what one person can do to change a community, just small acts of kindness, what that can do, just inspired me to be that change,” he said.

Thanks to Monday's service project, the memorial is clean just in time for the Honor Guard's annual 9/11 performance there.

“It was very encouraging today to have a group of young people come forward and really want to volunteer their services to help,” said Jason Rhodes, media relations manager for the Overland Park Fire Department.

Rachel Henderson/KSHB 41

“We take [September 11] It's a great time to remember why we are conducting this mission, why we are in service to the public and to recommit ourselves to keeping their memory alive and making sure something like this never happens again,” Rhodes said.

It is difficult to recognize something you do not know.

That is why the Kambhampati siblings want the future generation of young people born after September 11 to learn from the past as often as possible.

“It is important to be aware of the history of what happened and also to know what can be done to ensure that when tragedies like this occur, the community does not fall apart but comes back together and forms a strong community built on hope and kindness,” said Lasya Kambhampati.