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Community Corner

J-Serve Youth Among 700 Who Volunteer on Sept. 11

In honor of the declared 9/11 Day of Service and Remembrance, hundreds of volunteers descended upon Detroit on Sunday to lend their time to local projects.

In honor of the national 9/11 Day of Service and Remembrance, hundreds of metro Detroiters descended upon Detroit on Sunday afternoon to donate their time to local projects.

Volunteers, organized through Acts of Kindness-Detroit, gathered at Focus: HOPE in northwest Detroit and were dispersed to local parks, alleys, parking lots and the Focus: HOPE headquarters to work on projects ranging from raking and picking up trash to putting together projects for Arts & Scraps.

"We want to honor the victims (of 9/11) by doing something in our communities," ACCESS Executive Director Hassan Jaber said at the opening ceremony of the day of service. "This is about us. This is about today, and the spirit needs to continue every day in Detroit."

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Asim Mishra, deputy chief of staff of the Corporation for National and Community Service, came from Washington, D.C., on behalf of the federal government to honor metro Detroit's commitment to service.

"The president and first lady would be proud to see this," he said. "They care deeply, deeply about community service and volunteerism."

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WISDOM co-founder Trish Harris said she was happy to involve her organization's members in a project that was as much about volunteering as it was about dialogue.

"We're not just doing physical things — we're going to have time to talk to one another," she said. "That's the thing that changes hearts and minds."

The day of service was a collaborative effort between , the , Women's Interfaith Solutions for Dialogue and Outreach in Metro Detroit, the Interfaith Leadership Council, Focus: HOPE, The United Way of Southeast Michigan, J-Serve, Volunteer Centers of Michigan, City Year Detroit, the Council of Islamic Organizations of Michigan, the Jewish Community Relations Council, Arts & Scraps, and Detroit's Cities of Service "Believe in Detroit" Campaign.

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