Gainesville community honors 9/11 victims with acts of kindness

One by one, they approached the wooden towers.

Jotting down a good deed they had done — or would soon do — students and residents placed small squares of paper between 3-foot-tall replicas of the World Trade Center’s twin towers.

Smile at a stranger, one person wrote. Tell someone they’re beautiful. Call grandma.

By mid-afternoon Friday, about 100 acts of kindness decorated the space between the towers — symbols of hope nearly 15 years after the 9/11 attacks.

Hosted by the Lubavitch-Chabad Jewish Student and Community Center, the memorial event served as a way for the community to remember the nearly 3,000 people who died Sept. 11, 2001 and to honor their lives through random acts of kindness.

“It’s up to us to keep their memory alive,” said Rabbi Aaron Notik of Lubavitch-Chabad.

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Charlie Anderson listed his four years serving in the U.S. Air Force as his good deed.

Working as a heavy-equipment operator in the military about 30 years ago, the Gainesville resident said his job was to help rebuild bases after attacks.

But even 15 years after the deadliest terrorist attack in history, the U.S. and its people have yet to fully rebuild, he said.

Through small acts of compassion, however, he said the wounds could heal.

“If we put our hearts together and come together as a country, we can be great again,” he said.

Some good deeds passed through the hands of Jacob Zieper, 21, who volunteered at the event.

He said it was humbling to see people act selflessly with no ulterior motives.

“The only way you can fight senseless hate is with random love,” the UF Jewish studies senior said.