Martin Luther King Jr. Day 2008

NC Campuses Make 2008 Martin Luther King Jr. Day a "Day On...Not a Day Off"

Photos of Warren Wilson College students creating murals for the Manna Foodbank

The 2008 King Day of Service saw a record number of Americans honoring Dr. King by volunteering in their communities nationally. More than a half million Americans served in projects in all 50 states. The President and First Lady Laura Bush served at the MLK Library in Washington D.C, one of 5,000 projects taking place across the country. Participation in the King Day of Service has grown each year since 1994, when Congress passed legislation encouraging the holiday to be observed as a national day of service.  Learn more about national efforts here.

Here in North Carolina, NC Campus Compact members coordinated service projects in honor of King Day 2008 throughout the state. Nine campuses received funding support from NC Campus Compact through a grant we received from the Points of Light Foundation. We provided $300 mini-grants to support their MLK Day service events. We were also able to provide MLK Challenge Tool Kits, based on the Appalachian State University model, to all our member campuses. 

Click on the link below to go directly to the summary for campuses who received an MLK Challenge Grant.

Appalachian State University

Central Piedmont Community College

East Carolina University

Greensboro College

NC Central University

NC State University

Peace College

Pfeiffer University

Western Carolina University

Click on this link to read the summaries from other member campuses.

Duke University

Guilford College

UNC-Asheville

Warren Wilson College

Highlights from MLK Challenge Mini-Grant Recipients

Appalachian State University (photos to the right)

# of Volunteers = 166

# of Projects = 17

# of Agencies Served = 15

List of Agencies:

1. Shelter Rock
2. Hospitality House
3. Hospice
4.Cove Creek Farm
5. WYN agency (work with middle-schoolers)
6. Children's Playhouse
7. Sugar Grove Developmental Day School
8. Bare Bones Boutique (supports Humane Society)
9. Blue Ridge Wildlife Institute
10. Avery County Habitat for Humanity
11. Appalachian Brian Estates
12. Glenbridge Health & Rehabilitation Center
13. OASIS (domestic violence agency)
14. Mountain Alliance
15. ASU International Service Learning fund

Sampling of activities:

• Making emergency blankets from huge bolts of fabric
• Helping process and organize at their warehouse
• Improving "curb appeal" and doing remodeling work inside of two homeless shelters
• Prepared & delivered meals to Hospice families
• Rrefinishing & cleaning a basement at an agency
• Helping to build storage for an agency
• Preparing cages and helping build perches at the Wildlife Institute.
• Refurbishing of a newly acquired foreclosed house
• Planning and hosting a birthday party for the residents at the retirement home
• Helping to spread awareness of this domestic violence agency's mission & services

All groups completed a "bonus challenge" as well: each group was asked to raise a minimum of $55 to support a new international service-learning fund to support students at ASU, in honor of a student who passed away 3 years ago. Participants raised almost $1800 in one day to support this cause.

Central Piedmont Community College (photos to the right)

# of Volunteers = 101

# of Projects = 7

# of Agencies Served = 7

List of Agencies:

1. Joshua's Farm
2. Latin American Coalition
3. Elizabeth Traditional School
4. Hinds Feet Farm
5. 21st Century/BOLD Kids -Ashley Park Elementary
6. Weddington Assisted Living
7. Jewish Family Services

Sampling of Activities:

• Enhancing the nature trail that runs alongside the farm with signs, chimes and plants
• Painting a classroom, cleaning blinds and creating an indoor garden at a school
• Designing and creating 18 bulletin board in a school hallway

East Carolina University (photos to the right)

# of Volunteers = 142

# of Projects 15

# of Agencies Served = 15

List of Agencies:

1. American Red Cross-Blood Services
2. Boys & Girls Club-North Pitt
3. Food Bank of Central & Eastern NC
4. Food Education & Distribution Center
5.Give2theTroops
6. Hope Lodge
7. Human Society
8. Little Willie Center
9. Oak Haven
10. Operation Sunshine
11. Red Oaks
12. RHA Howell-Tar River
13. Ronald McDonald House
14. Spring Arbor
15. TRAC Enrichment Center

Sampling of Activities:

• Visiting with the elderly
• Working with children at the Boys & Girls Club
• Helping to serve meals at the soup kitchen
• Creating care packages to send to troops in combat

Greensboro College (photos down and to the right)

# of Volunteers = 197

# of Projects = 4

# of Agencies Served = 4

List of Agencies:

1. Food Assistance Inc.
2. The Servant Center
3. Projuct Linus
4. Give2theTroops

Sampling of Activities:

• Creating no-sew blankets for Project Linus
• Collecting Items and making Valentine's Cards for troops
• Stockingand cleaning a food pantry
• Packingbags of food for distribution

North Carolina Central University

# of Volunteers =100

# of Projects = 2

# of Agencies Served = 3

List of Agencies:

1. 21st Century Faith-Based Community Learning Centers
2. Durham Center for Senior Life
3. Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church

Sampling of Activities:

• Mural painting
• Quiltmaking

Peace College

# of Volunteers = 32

# of Projects = 4

#  of Agencies Served = 4

List of Agencies:

1. Haven House Beautification Project
2. Carnivore Preservation Trust Construction Project
3. Communities in Schools of Wake County Learning Center
4. Marble Kids Museum Creating Harmony through Diversity

Sampling of Activities:

• Enhancing the appearance of residential facilities for youth
• Extending the shed to shelter cart used to transport elderlypeople who visit the Preservation
• Shelving books, setting up and arranging furniture and unpacking boxes at Learning Center

North Carolina State University (photos to the right)

# of Volunteers = 131

# of Projects = 3

# of Agencies Served = 4

List of Agencies:

1. Salvation Army Women & Children's Shelter
2. Salvation Army Soup Kitchen
3. Salvation Army Pantry
4. Ligon Middle School

Sampling of Activities:

• Making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the homeless
• Making no-sew blankets for the homeless
• Assembling health care kits for the homeless

Pfeiffer University (photo to the right)

# of Volunteers = 12

# of Projects = 3

# of Agencies Served = 3

List of Agencies:

1. Habitat for Humanity Stanly County Resale Store
2. Richfiled School community art project
3. Homes for Hope

Sampling of Activities:

• Refinishing funiture for local-non profit that deals with temporary housing
• Working on a community art project with children from local school

Western Carolina University (photo to the right)

# of Volunteers = 100

# of Projects = 5

# of Agencies Served = 5

List of Agencies:

1. Hawthorne Heights Children's Home
2. Pigeon Community Development Center
3. Mountain Trace Nursing Home
4. Public Housing Development-Asheville
5. Swain County -MLK Reception

Sampling of Activities:

• Completing art projects with local youth
• Cleaning inside and outside at the nursing home and housing development

Additional Member Highlights

Duke University

Duke University partnered with North Carolina Central University in the Million Meals event.  At this event to benefit Stop Hunger Now!, students packaged dehydrated meals to be distributed to hungry people around the world.  

Guilford College (photo to the right)

Over 200 children and members of the Greensboro Community took part in song and dance in celebration and remembrance of Martin Luther King. Many of the youth were immigrants and refugees and had little idea who MLK is or why they get a day off because of him. Unfortunately, many of the non-immigrant youth born here know very little about MLK and the civil rights movement. Guilford believes that exposing the youth to this information and teaching them about MLK and his dream can have a positive effect. They learn about self respect and respect for others. Exposing youth to their history builds self worth, which translate into higher performance in the classroom.  Over 50 Guilford College students took part in the planning and implementation of this service event.  

University of North Carolina - Asheville (photo to the right)

UNCA students, faculty, and staff observed Martin Luther King Jr. Day by working at two of the Asheville Housing Authority's facilities, Aston Park Towers, and Altamont Apartments; afterward they took part in the Martin Luther King, Jr. March from St. James AME Church to City-County Plaza.

Warren Wilson College (photo below)

MLK Day of Service at Warren Wilson College consisted of 4 service projects: 1) landscaping at the historic slave cemetery in South Asheville, 2) repainting a homeless shelter, 3) restoration at Calvary mission and, 4) helping a local community services center move to a new building.