September 11: Day of Service and Remembrance

In 2017, employees from Turner Construction Company’s New York City office engaged in the day of service through 9/11 Day’s Annual Meal Pack, where local volunteers assemble meals for people in need. From 2017 to 2019, Turner’s support with the organization has fed more than 130,600 people, with more than 470 volunteers, and 950 total service hours.

Turner is a lead sponsor of the organization this year, resulting in what Turner Vice President and Senior Operations Manager, Joseph Byrne calls “local participation with national impact.”

As we honor those whose lives were lost on 9/11, we are encouraged to engage in charitable services to commemorate today’s “first responders," including healthcare workers, EMS personnel, nursing home employees, essential workers, and others on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic. The organization is teaming up with Chef Jose Andres and World Central Kitchen to deliver more than 30,000 meals from minority-owned independent restaurants, to first responders and healthcare workers in up to 30 cities.

Nineteen years ago, William DePasquale, General Superintendent, comforted survivors after they arrived at the Jersey City waterfront, near where his project site at the time was located. As he remembers, “That day I was blessed that my loved ones were home safe. I knew going home was not an option because those who survived needed us to care and comfort them.” Many Turner employees were personally impacted on this tragic day. Turner Vice President, Robert Gullickson, who lost his brother, an FDNY Firefighter, said, “To live in the hearts of those left behind is not to die.”