Published 2 min read
By Ed Brennen
Topics: Community & Outreach Student Life
Students write notes with markers while sitting at a table in a building lobby. Image by Henry Marte

UMass Lowell students write notes that will go into care kits for more than 300 local youth as part the recent Carry Kindness project, supported by a grant through the 9/11 Day Grant Program.


Senior criminal justice major Luke Van Horn saw an opportunity to connect the two student organizations he leads with a cause close to home.

Van Horn, president of the UMass Lowell chapters of the Omicron Delta Kappa (ODK) national leadership honor society and Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group (MASSPIRG) Students, helped organize a project to assemble more than 300 care kits for local youth — turning a grant opportunity into a campuswide effort to give back.

“As a student from Lowell, I thought it was a really great thing to be a part of,” says Van Horn, an Honors College student who was born in New York and raised in Lowell.

The project, called Carry Kindness, was supported by a grant of nearly $10,000 through the 2026 9/11 Day Grant Program, administered by the nonprofit 9/11 Day in collaboration with AmeriCorps and the Popeyes Foundation. The program supports community-led service projects connected to the September 11 National Day of Service and Remembrance.

A smiling student stands with his hands on his hips while talking to a person in front of a staircase. Image by Ed Brennen

Senior criminal justice major Luke Van Horn, president of the UML chapters of Omicron Delta Kappa and MASSPIRG Students, helped spearhead the Carry Kindness project.


The initiative was coordinated by the university’s offices of Community Relations and Student Life and Involvement, with leadership from ODK and MASSPIRG Students.

Van Horn joined the effort after Student Life and Involvement Director Sarah Rine shared the grant opportunity with him. He says the project has personal meaning because his father and uncle served in the New York City Police Department.

“It’s a cause that’s super-close to me,” Van Horn says. “Anything 9/11-related, I’m always willing to support.”

ODK Vice President Mia Czarnecki helped organize the project, which was launched at the Office of Student Life & Involvement’s annual welcome dinner and training. At that event, student organization leaders wrote more than 100 messages for the kits.

“We got so many beautiful notes from students,” says Czarnecki, an honors junior biology major from Deerfield, New Hampshire. “People were very passionate about doing that and just giving back in general.”

A student in a gray hoodie and glasses sitting a table talks to people in a building lobby. Image by Ed Brennen

"We got so many beautiful notes from students," says ODK Vice President Mia Czarnecki, right, who helped organize the project.


During four care-kit assembly sessions in the Meehan Student Center atrium, members of the UMass Lowell and Greater Lowell communities came together to create kits for local youth. Each kit included a new children’s or young adult book, a drawstring bag, an age-appropriate wellness item — such as hygiene products, first-aid supplies, stress-relief tools, coloring books or colored pencils — and a handwritten message of encouragement.

Alyssa Williston, a senior criminal justice major focused on homeland security, was among the students staffing the table and inviting passersby to spend a few minutes helping to assemble the kits. The project had particular meaning for her because of her interest in counterterrorism and terrorism prevention.

“I want to be able to make sure things like that never happen again,” says Williston, who is from Douglas. “And if I’m able to start here, to help give back to communities that may have been affected by that, then that is a great place to start.”

A person writes a note with a marker while sitting at a table. Image by Henry Marte

A UML student writes a note of encouragement to a local youth.