Scaling a National Day of Service:
teamworks communication and PR Consultants Group
When the nonprofit 9/11 Day needed to expand its annual meal pack events into cities across the country, it turned to teamworks communication for a comprehensive approach to event management and media relations. Founded in 2002, 9/11 Day carries a singular mission: to transform the anniversary of September 11 into the largest day of service in America. In 2009, Congress and the President formally recognized September 11 as a National Day of Service and Remembrance under federal law.
teamworks communication principals Barb Harris and Sharon Kreher — both members of PR Consultants Group — began managing the Phoenix and St. Louis events in 2019. By 2021, they had taken on a broader role, building and overseeing a national network of local event managers in an expanding number of cities each year.
The scope grew steadily. In 2022, teamworks managed nine markets. By 2023, that number had grown to 15 cities —
Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Nashville, Phoenix, St. Louis, Tampa, and Washington D.C.
— with as many as 18 markets active across the full project period.
The work went well beyond logistics. teamworks provided 9/11 Day with a turnkey approach that covered identifying, vetting, contracting with, and actively managing local event managers in each market. Those managers handled on-the-ground planning, volunteer coordination, and execution of large-scale meal pack events benefiting local food banks — while also running public relations in their communities.
The results were concrete. Events delivered an average of 300,000 meals per market in 2023.
Across the 15 markets teamworks managed in 2023, local planners secured more than
400 television, radio, print, and online media placements, generating 26 million impressions.
The engagement generated consistent revenue for teamworks and the PR Consultants Group members who served as local market managers — a direct, tangible benefit of the network in action. teamworks’ role was also deliberately structured to be transitional: providing the infrastructure and oversight the organization needed until it was positioned to manage the program independently.
That transition has proven durable. Though teamworks no longer oversees national management, PR Consultants members remain central to the effort. When 9/11 Day needs local market contacts, they still turn to the PR Consultants Group network — extending the value of those relationships well beyond the original engagement. In 2025, the program expanded to 24 markets, with the majority managed by PR Consultants Group members. For 2026 — the 25th anniversary of 9/11 Day — the organization has set a goal to activate events in 50 markets, drawing primarily on the PR Consultants Group network to make that possible.
