NEWBERRY — As we reach the 20th commemoration of the September 11, 2001 terror attacks, we come to the same question: how can we best remember and honor the lives lost on that day? To partially answer that question, September 11 was named as one of two national days of service in the U.S. (the other is Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day). In service to others and our community we live out the best of humanity. We show that we care, we remember, and we will act to build a better community, for the present and the future.

There are many ways to serve, and much need for service. You can do something as simple as taking an extra trash bag with you when you take kids to the park and clean up some litter. You can do the same on your walk around your neighborhood. You can join with larger groups who want to do community cleanup. You can help the Newberry Literacy Council take books to little free libraries. You can do a food drive for one of the local food banks such as the Living Hope Foundation or you can get together a group of neighbors, and all go register to vote (either online at SCVotes.org or at the Voter Registration office at 1872 Wilson Road). You can volunteer or with or just participate in your local political parties as a way to get politically involved in your community (Democrats next meet on September 16 at 7 p.m. on Zoom – contact newberrydemocrats@gmail.com for more information – and Republicans next meet on September 16 at 7 p.m. at The Depot in downtown Prosperity – contact newberryscgop@gmail.com for more information). In addition to some of these examples of potential service, on Saturday you can also frequent local businesses to build our local economy. For example, The Grow Newberry Farmers Market will be open downtown in Memorial Park on Saturday morning. You can then go to the Newberry Museum (who also is always looking for volunteers to help us all continually dig deeper into our county’s history) for the Community Commemoration, and Tribute to First Responders at 10 a.m.

As you come up with ideas to serve, either in your neighborhood or in your broader community, remember there are many amazing organizations right here in Newberry that have many different needs, just as all of us have many different skills to contribute. The Newberry County Chamber of Commerce has a list of some of the non-profit organizations in the community at https://www.newberrycountychamber.com/non-profit. There are many other organizations, such as the Newberry Literacy Council, Meals on Wheels, Newberry County Veterans Affairs, Legion Post 219, Legion Post 24, or Veterans with a Mission. If you want to be involved more in service for refugees you can connect with Lutheran Services of the Carolinas, or Catholic Relief Services in Columbia – just two of many such organizations. You can look up more ideas, as well as lessons plans for kids, on www.911day.org. There are even opportunities for virtual service of all kinds through groups like CatchAFire.org, Smithsonian Digital Volunteers, UN Online Volunteers, Zooniverse Volunteers, Translators without Borders, or Project Gutenberg Distributed Proofreaders. More ideas for service are available on serve.gov.

Whatever you decide to do, there is nothing too small or too big. Connecting with and serving our communities is the perfect way to answer the call of this day of remembrance and service. This day “we can honor those we lost by building a Nation worthy of their memories” and “live up to the selfless example of the heroes who gave of themselves in the face of such great evil” (Presidential Proclamation for Patriot Day and National Day of Service and Remembrance, Sept 10, 2013).