Chris Meek: Telling the stories of "The Heroism and Resiliency of 9/11"

as you go through and you tell this story, what lives on 25 years later is how it affected you.

So how did this day affect you and kind of change the trajectory of your life plan?

There are two very searing memories in my mind of that day.

The first is actually when I mentioned leaving my office building, looking up the towers, seeing people jumping because that was their best option.

But then the other one is, of course, like everyone else down there were the first responders rushing into the towers without caring for their own safety of their lives.

And so I knew at some point I would have to give back.

I was in that moment, had no idea what that would be or what it would look like.

And so just sort of had that burning in the back of my mind of at some point something has to be done to do a small part to pay it back.

And so how long later then did it take to start paying that back? And what was your first idea to be able to do that?

There were two ideas.

The first one was during the financial crisis when people were losing their homes to foreclosure.

I did a one day program which was supposed to help people bring the banks and the borrowers together and help them avoid losing their homes.

And that one time program that day, specific day, saved 33 families from losing their homes, ultimately turned into a nonprofit, which helped over 250 Connecticut families avoid foreclosure.

And the other one started out simply with a friend and mentor of mine who was a retired Marine.

But I also know once you're a Marine, you're always a Marine, had given me a letter he'd received from a Marine deployed in Afghanistan saying, we're not on bases, we're in jeeps and foxholes.

Can you please send tube socks because we're hiking all day and throw the old ones away and baby wipes for personal hygiene? And so we just said, Chris, you know, I know you're involved in a few things.

Maybe you can do some care packages.

Long story short, that led to the nonprofit, which was really Soldier Socks, which turned into Soldier Strong.

We sent over 75,000 pounds of supplies to 73 units in Iraq and Afghanistan.

All of that from a man who's not a veteran himself, that sees and appreciates what they do.

How can you how can we all keep that in mind all the time? You've done a great job of doing that in your life.

And, you know, how can the rest of us follow in your lead? Well,

there's a lot of things you shouldn't follow.

We'll start with that.

So I went to Syracuse University for undergrad and graduate school, and the Maxwell School of Citizenship is one of the oldest schools in the country for public administration.