Oregon Public Broadcasting

Nursing students in Spokane will spend September 11 assembling basic AIDS kits that will be distributed in Africa.

The students will be among thousands of Northwest people who volunteer time during Saturday's National Day of Service and Remembrance.

The day of service honors the victims of the September 11th attacks by encouraging people to work in their communities.

At Spokane's Northtown Mall, Washington State University nursing students will pack boxes with basic supplies.

African caregivers will take them to people with AIDS. Dana Buck from the Seattle relief organization World Vision says the boxes includes supplies like latex gloves, petroleum jelly and flashlights.

Dana Buck: "Many of the visits these caregivers make are at night or they're going into a hut that there's no light and no electricity so they can see their way."

Buck says the Spokane volunteers will pack 500 boxes. He says World Vision will fly the AIDS kits to 17 nations where it works in Africa.

Other organizations in the Northwest will also mark September 11th by volunteering. For example, AARP will hold a work party at the Oregon Food Bank warehouse in Beaverton.