North Charleston residents gathered Sunday, Sept. 20, for Wrapped in Hope, a 9/11 Day of Service focused on remembrance, reflection and hands-on community care. The event took place at the North Charleston Fire Museum & Education Center, 4975 Centre Pointe Drive. The official project listing scheduled the volunteer afternoon from noon to 3 p.m.
Blankies 4 My Buddies Foundation hosted the project in partnership with Project Street Outreach and the Transportation Education Foundation. The event was supported by 9/11 Day, AmeriCorps and the City of North Charleston. Organizers described it as a free, all-ages opportunity to turn the 25th anniversary of Sept. 11 into an afternoon of service.
Young people, families and other community members were invited to participate together. The official project description encouraged children of all ages to take part, giving families a simple way to remember the day while making useful items for people who need support.
Volunteers made no-sew blankets, assembled hygiene and comfort kits, and wrote handwritten notes of encouragement. The activities were designed to be completed together and to connect remembrance with practical care for people facing difficult circumstances.
The items created during the event were designated for Project Street Outreach. The organization serves people experiencing homelessness, including veterans, as well as active-duty service members and military families in crisis. The event listing said the finished blankets, kits and notes would support that work.
Live 5 News reported that the gathering honored the late Navy veteran Ronald J. Wright and that the project was rooted in a Charleston family’s story of loss, service and community giving. The station reported that Blankies 4 My Buddies was founded after Kristen Wright Matthews lost her infant daughter and that her young son began handing out blankets to homeless veterans while coping with grief.
The Live 5 report said the event brought together young people, families, veterans and first responders. It also reported that Mayor Reggie Burgess named Sept. 20, 2026, Wrapped in Hope Day in North Charleston in memory of Wright. Those details come from the station’s reporting and remain attributed to the people and organizations it interviewed.
Project Street Outreach representatives described their work as providing essential products and care packages for homeless veterans, active-duty service members and families in crisis. The station also reported that the organization works with Operation Warm Heart to assist service members facing hardship.
WTMA likewise reported that community members gathered in North Charleston to honor people lost on Sept. 11 by serving veterans in need. Its account supports the event’s focus on remembrance and direct community service, alongside the official listing’s record of the blankets, kits and handwritten notes.
The project connected a national day of service with a local volunteer effort. Instead of treating remembrance as only a ceremony, Wrapped in Hope invited families to spend an afternoon making something tangible for neighbors who could use warmth, hygiene supplies, comfort items or a personal note.
Live 5 described the work as a way to bring generations into the same room. Children, seniors, veterans and first responders could take on small tasks side by side, with each blanket, kit or note becoming a visible piece of the afternoon. The report connected that mix of ages to the organizers’ broader youth-led approach to service.
The station reported that the finished comfort and wellness kits would be distributed through Project Street Outreach at a later Thanksgiving gathering for veterans. That is a planned distribution described by the organizers, not a claim that the items had already reached recipients on Sept. 20. The distinction keeps the story specific while showing where the afternoon’s work was headed.
The sources establish the date, location, partners, activities and intended recipients. They do not establish the total number of volunteers, the number of blankets or kits completed, the number of recipients served, or the exact distribution date. The reports also do not establish that every person named as an intended participant attended, so this draft avoids attendance claims.
Reader responses