Tuesday marks 23 years since the attacks on 9/11.

Almost 900 people packed nearly 250,000 meals at Roy Wilkins auditorium on Tuesday. The event was held by the nonprofit 9/11 Day, which has worked to make Sept. 11 formally known as “National Day of Service and Remembrance.”

It’s the nonprofit’s third year of meal packing in the Twin Cities, and volunteers will be packing meals all over the country. Nationwide, there are expected to be as many as 30,000 volunteers packing over 8.5 million meals.

Vice presidential candidate Gov. Tim Walz took a break from the campaign trail to join the event alongside Lt. Gov Peggy Flanagan and St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter. He addressed the volunteers in attendance to reflect on 9/11, saying it brought America together in patriotism and grief.

“There was a moment of unity around shared values,” Walz said. “There was a moment of unity for caring for one another. There was a moment of unity that we’re all in this together, that we rally around.”

The meals packed in the Twin Cities will be donated to Second Harvest Heartland — a massive food bank in Brooklyn Park.