Stand-up comedian, actor, and writer Pete Davidson, whose father, Scott Davidson, was a firefighter killed in the line of duty in the 9/11 terrorist attacks, is helping launch the movement, posting a video on the 911day.org website that encourages Americans to join him in honoring those lost and affected by the attacks, not only through remembrance, but through action.
Davidson will kick off "UNIITE With Me," a national friend-to-friend and social media challenge in which celebrities, influencers and Americans across the country perform or pledge good deeds and invite others to do the same. Davidson's video message can be viewed at 911day.org, as well as on 9/11 Day's YouTube, Facebook, and other social channels.
"9/11 will always be a hard day," said Davidson. "But I also grew up seeing what came after — people showing up for each other. Twenty-five years later, we can honor the people we lost by doing the same for our community."
"Twenty-five years after 9/11, at a moment when Americans feel deeply divided, we believe there is no more meaningful tribute than to rekindle the remarkable spirit of unity and goodness that transformed America and much of the world in the days following the attacks," said David Paine, president and co-founder of 9/11 Day. "We are honored to have Pete Davidson help share his story, and encourage Americans and others to join together as we did 25 years ago, and remember by doing good." .
One Million Good Deeds — On a Map
At the center of the campaign is a new interactive web application at 911day.org that makes participating simple. Visitors can discover ideas for good deeds, choose something meaningful to them, pledge to do it, and add their commitment to a growing interactive map representing people across the nation and beyond who are choosing to "UNIITE For Good."
Good deeds can be as simple as helping a neighbor, donating blood, thanking a first responder, supporting a food bank, checking on someone who is lonely, mentoring a young person or volunteering with a local nonprofit. The campaign aims to generate at least one million pledged good deeds by September 11, creating a visible demonstration that Americans with different backgrounds, beliefs, politics, cultures and life experiences can still stand together around something fundamental: helping one another.
"The premise of the campaign is intentionally accessible: You don't need to run into a burning building, as my brother did on 9/11, to make a difference," said Jay S. Winuk, co-founder and executive vice president of 9/11 Day and a 9/11 family member. Winuk's younger brother Glenn Winuk, an attorney and volunteer firefighter/EMT, was killed in the line of duty in the collapse of the World Trade Center South Tower. "You simply need to do something good to help someone else, and that's how we can help keep the promise to 'Never Forget' for generations to come."
Visitors to the 911day.org website can also search for volunteer opportunities, access free lesson plans for teachers, and get other helpful resources.
"UNIITE For Good"
9/11 Day's campaign was created in partnership with David&Goliath, the nonprofit organization's award-winning marketing agency. It is built around a deliberately unexpected spelling of a familiar word: UNIITE.
The two "I"s turn the idea of unity into a visual call for individuals to come together — person to person — through action.
Across campaign imagery, the two "I"s become people, objects and symbols associated with service and everyday acts of good: volunteers standing side by side, grocery bags left for a neighbor, work gloves in a community garden, paint cans at a neighborhood restoration project and other simple representations of people helping people.
"As an agency, we talk a lot about building movements that make a real difference in people's lives," said David Angelo, founder and creative chairman of David&Goliath. "We've always believed creativity should leave the world a little better than we found it."
"The good in us has always been there," Angelo added. "We saw it on September 11. We've seen it every year since. Now it's about inspiring the next generation to keep it going."
"UNIITE For Good" will be supported by a major national public-awareness campaign spanning television, radio, digital, social media, out-of-home and print.
The creative campaign includes :60 and :30 television, radio and digital public service announcements, along with print and digital executions asking Americans to move beyond the things that divide them and unite around the simple act of doing good for someone else.
Full-page print advertisements will feature the campaign's UNIITE For Good Manifesto, a declaration about the power of service and shared humanity to transcend political, generational, geographic and cultural differences.
Campaign billboards and digital displays will begin appearing throughout the nation this week in prominent locations, including Times Square, with additional donated media and PSA support helping extend the message nationally through
September 11.
Reaching a Generation That Does Not Remember 9/11
While "UNIITE For Good" is intended for all Americans, the campaign has been deliberately designed to resonate with younger generations, particularly Gen Z and young adults who are too young to have personal memories of 9/11.
More than 100 million Americans alive today have been born since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, making the 25th anniversary a pivotal generational moment.
"For millions of younger Americans, 9/11 is history rather than memory," Paine said. "That makes it even more important that we pass along not only the story of what happened that morning, but also what happened afterward — the compassion, service and remarkable sense of unity that emerged across the country."
Millions of Meals. 51 Cities. More Than 50,000 Volunteers.
UNIITE For Good will move from message to action through one of the largest coordinated volunteer mobilizations in the nation.
In 51 U.S. cities, 9/11 Day and its partners will host large-scale 9/11 Day Meal Pack volunteer projects focused on hunger relief.
More than 50,000 volunteers representing 700+ companies are expected to participate, packing more than 18 million shelf-stable meals for Feeding America-affiliated food banks and other hunger-relief organizations serving communities across the country.
More than 700 companies, major professional sports organizations, colleges, nonprofits, civic leaders and food banks will join together at these events, which organizers expect will constitute one of the largest single-day corporate volunteer mobilizations ever undertaken in the United States.
Principal funding to support 9/11 Day's 25th anniversary Meal Pack program and other activities is being provided by Delta Air Lines, Reliance, Inc., and AmeriCorps, the federal agency for national service and volunteerism.
Other prominent 9/11 Day national participating sponsors include Citi, JPMorganChase, Blackstone Charitable Foundation, Popeyes Foundation, Holland & Knight LLP, Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), SRS Raise the Roof Foundation, Nestlé, MUFG, Target, Munich Re, RBC, The Pfizer Foundation, Western Alliance Community Foundation, MetLife Foundation, National Football League, Major League Baseball, Lockheed Martin, Starbucks Coffee Company, Comcast NBCUniversal, Stifel, and Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, which lost 67 employees in the attacks on the World Trade Center.
9/11 Day is working with U.S. Hunger, Kids Around the World and Meals of Hope to source food supplies and support logistics for the nationwide Meal Pack program.
A Free National Marketplace for Volunteering
Americans who want to do more than an individual good deed can visit 911day.org to search for volunteer opportunities in their communities through 9/11 Day's new national volunteer platform. The first-of-its-kind platform, powered by Eventbrite, the leading event management and ticketing provider, is designed to make volunteer service on September 11 accessible to everyone, everywhere — including communities where 9/11 Day is not operating one of its large-scale Meal Pack events.
Nonprofits, schools and community organizations can post their own 9/11 Day volunteer projects at no cost, enabling Americans to find and register for local opportunities ranging from hunger relief and neighborhood cleanups to projects serving veterans, children, first responders and families in need.
Individuals can also create and organize their own private service projects for friends, families, schools, workplaces and communities.
$3 Million to Help Communities Across America Serve
As another major component of "UNIITE For Good," 9/11 Day is distributing $3 million in grants to roughly 200 nonprofit organizations, schools and community groups across 40 states, dramatically expanding locally led service opportunities in relation to the 25th anniversary. Funding for this grant program, the largest 9/11 Day has ever administered, is being provided by AmeriCorps and the Popeyes Foundation℠.
More than 70 percent of the grant funding is being directed to youth organizations, K–12 schools, universities and other educational institutions, reflecting 9/11 Day's emphasis on ensuring that a new generation understands the legacy of 9/11 through firsthand service.
Grant recipients are expected to engage more than 70,000 additional volunteers, supporting projects that include hunger relief, service to veterans and first responders, school and neighborhood improvement projects, donation drives, community restoration and other locally identified needs.
Americans Asked to Pause and Remember on September 11 at 9:11 A.M.
"UNIITE For Good" will culminate on the morning of September 11 with a National Moment of Silence at 9:11 a.m., observed live in Times Square in New York City, and also promoted nationally, inviting Americans across the country to pause what they are doing and join in a 60-second moment of reflection and remembrance.
Immediately following the one-minute silence in Times Square, accomplished performers who lost parents on 9/11, accompanied by young performers from the New York City nonprofit Broadway Bound Kids, are expected to sing "America the Beautiful," creating a transition from remembrance to a hopeful expression of national unity.
A New Documentary Tells the Story Behind 9/11 Day
On September 1, 2026, Tribeca Festival will host the New York premiere of "9/11 Day," a new independent documentary directed by Emmy Award-winning filmmakers Jon Siskel and Greg Jacobs. Siskel/Jacobs Productions previously produced "102 Minutes That Changed America," their acclaimed documentary about the 9/11 attacks, which received three Primetime Emmy Awards. Here is a link to view the newly released documentary trailer.
The film chronicles the remarkable effort over nearly a quarter century to transform the anniversary of one of the worst days in American history into what has become the nation's largest annual day of charitable engagement. The new film explores the origins of 9/11 Day, its growth into a national movement, the deeply personal stories behind its creation, and the challenge now facing a country in which a growing share of the population has no firsthand memory of the attacks.
National Coalition Powering the 25th Anniversary of 9/11 Tribute
"UNIITE For Good" is supported by an unprecedented coalition of many of the nation's most influential service, civic, humanitarian and community organizations. More than 50 national organizations have joined 9/11 Day's 25th Anniversary National Commemoration Committee, helping extend the campaign into communities across the country.
Members of 9/11 Day's National Commemoration Committee include AmeriCorps, America250, Feeding America, the American Red Cross, United Way Worldwide, and Boys & Girls Clubs of America, along with the National Governors Association, U.S. Conference of Mayors, Points of Light, Girl Scouts of the USA, New York Cares and dozens of other national and community organizations. Together, these partners are helping transform the 25th anniversary from a single national remembrance into a nationwide movement of service, compassion and good deeds.
Professional Sports Industry Participation
The nation's professional sports community has also united behind the effort. Five of America's major professional sports leagues — the National Football League, Major League Baseball, National Basketball Association, National Hockey League and Major League Soccer — are supporting 9/11 Day's 25th anniversary campaign, with numerous teams and league representatives participating in the organization's Meal Pack events, promoting the "UNIITE For Good" campaign and encouraging fans across the country to take part.
"We expect and appreciate that this unprecedented participation of the professional sports community will substantially broaden the reach of the campaign's message of unity and service to millions of Americans," said Winuk.
Defining 9/11 for Generations to Come
9/11 Day was founded in 2002 by David Paine and Jay Winuk following the death of Winuk's younger brother, Glenn Winuk, in the 9/11 attacks. The organization subsequently led the successful effort to establish September 11 as a federally recognized National Day of Service and Remembrance, enacted into law in 2009, which today has become the nation's largest annual day of charitable engagement. Each year, millions of Americans, businesses, educators and organizations participate in honor of the victims, survivors, first responders and all who rose to serve in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. For the organization, the 25th anniversary represents more than a milestone.
"Our goal is for Americans to take back the day – to turn the anniversary of 9/11 into America's day for doing good, and that's how we intend to help keep the promise to never forget," Winuk said.
SOURCE 9/11 Day
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