Jon Stewart says he never really decided to focus his charity efforts on first responders and their families.

It just happened.

The award-winning host of “The Daily Show” expressed his desire to feel useful and to support those who had dedicated their lives to helping others.

“These aren’t the X-Men,” Stewart said.

“They’re not superheroes.

They’re merely men and women who made a decision.

And that decision was, ‘I’m gonna be there for people in their worst moments.

Whatever happens, happens.

But that’s what I’ve decided to do.’”

His support for the first responders to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks led him to lobby angrily and testify before Congress in 2019, aiming to ensure that the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund would not run out of money.

He pushed to close a loophole in the PACT Act that left U.S. troops exposed to radiation during the Afghanistan War without medical coverage.

And his efforts continue, as he announced Friday that he would return as host of the First Responders Children’s Foundation’s Roll Call of Heroes ceremony in New York’s Times Square on Oct. 28 to commemorate National First Responders Day.

“You get to stand face to face with the individuals being honored and give them an ‘attaboy,’ and to meet really young people involved in their communities,” he said.

“It’s always nice to be able to, in a way, touch the firmament of what holds this all together.”

Jillian Crane, President and CEO of the First Responders Children’s Foundation, remarked that the nonprofit is delighted that Stewart will return to host this year’s event.

“His strong support for first responders, especially those dealing with illnesses linked to 9/11, makes him the perfect host for this yearly event,” she said.

“As the only national nonprofit focused on the children of first responders, we believe highlighting their parents, heroes who serve our communities every day, is a powerful way to say thank you.”

This interview has been edited and condensed in the interest of clarity.

If we cannot care for those who care for us, it exposes a deep, fundamental flaw in the very scaffolding of society.

Clearly, having experienced the aftermath of 9/11, you see how fragile the experiment is without people willing to run towards the collapse.

I think that, combined with the outrage at a political system that was more than willing to praise them when needed and more than willing to discard them once they were no longer the focus, created the momentum.

It resembles what they do upon reaching a site: you are, in a sense, triaging urgent need against what can wait.

And I think children who have lost a parent to these kinds of tragedies are, in effect, your first-order triage event.

Honestly, being involved—even though you might hear more of the grief—is, I believe, something of a salve for the pain of it.

Action is, in a manner of speaking, the antidote to that feeling of helplessness and anxiety.

Generally speaking, there is a kind of quiet activism in living pleasantly.

I mean, you go about your day and try to be the best neighbour, citizen, and individual you can be out there.

The causes I have came about rather organically.

And I want to make sure that when I get involved with something, I do it thoroughly — that it is not charity tourism.

I want it to be something I can fully involve myself in, and where what I can offer is something they can use.