2023年1月18日

回馈的一天

Montclair’s MLK 服务日 draws students to volunteer on campus, in communities

红鹰吉祥物与学生合影留念. — Members of the Bonner Leader Program get ready to deploy to their volunteer assignments on Montclair’s MLK 服务日.

玛丽安娜·卢娜-马丁内斯仍然生动地回忆起当时的情景, 作为一个小孩子, 她和她的家人在一场大火中失去了所有的财产, 和其他住在他们公寓里的人一样. She also recalls how the community rallied around her family and helped them get back on their feet.

Luna-马丁内斯, 现在是十大博彩推荐排名大学生物学专业的大三学生，也是邦纳大学的带头人, learned from her parents the importance of community service from a young age, 所以毫不奇怪, this was her third year to volunteer for the 大学’s Martin Luther King Jr. 服务日. “我们总是确保帮助别人，”她说. “Those lessons and being brought up like that – that you volunteer not just specific days but every day…. It’s just those things that make me realize that MLK’s message is more than just going to help out for two to three hours.”

She and more than 230 Montclair students and alumni answered the call to give back, participating in Montclair’s MLK 服务日 on January 16 in a big way. Students gathered at 大学 Hall for breakfast and to reflect on the words and messages of the slain civil rights leader before being deployed to various locations both on and off campus – in Montclair and the surrounding area – for their volunteer assignments, which included everything from making blankets and sandwiches for shelters to distributing fire safety information with the Montclair Fire Department.

Those gathered also viewed a recorded message from 总统 Jonathan Koppell and Union Baptist Church Pastor William Freeman. 这座位于奥兰治的教堂是约翰. 马丁·路德·金在1968年遇刺前的最后一次演讲. 弗里曼回忆说，当时教堂里挤满了马丁博士. 金的演讲中，他传达了一个关于“一个受人爱戴的社区”的信息.他敦促人们“把我们自己看作一个大世界”,弗里曼说, 他补充说，做真正的“人道主义者”就是一切.”

Koppell urged students to think about their call to service not just on MLK Day but throughout their lives. “我迫不及待地想看到你做的好事, 不仅仅是今天, 但在未来的岁月里,他在视频中说道.

That message resonated with Keiva Edghill, a junior Biology major and Bonner Leader. She was delighted to see “people from my community being highlighted in a big way.”

长大后，“我去了那个教堂，”埃德希尔说. “只是去看牧师, it was easier for me to go into the day already knowing the mindset that I needed to be in to serve.”

这是她第二次为马丁·路德·金服务日做志愿者. “For me this is a special day because my family and I always celebrate his birthday,埃德希尔说，他和其他志愿者一起去了YDP营地, 在帕特森提供课外和夏令营项目. While there, they set up for a planned community luncheon and played with young children.

“It was really fun,她说。, recalling her days as a day-care volunteer at her church in Newark. “看到或拜访孩子让我心情很好. We’re still the same; I remember doing the same things when I was younger.” Edghill says she played school, with a young girl playing the teacher role. “她在教我一些东西. 我告诉她，‘你真的很聪明.“我不记得我在她这么大的时候做过这些事.”

但埃德希尔说，这不仅仅是为了乐趣和服务, “It was also an opportunity to meet new people and to network; I got to network with the director of Camp YDP, 我在考虑再次回去做志愿者.”

瑞安Breyta, a senior Journalism and Digital Media major and president of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity, volunteered at the Montclair Fire Department handing out fire safety information to local residents. 这是他第一次参加马丁·路德·金纪念日.

“我确实看到了. 金关于服务的信息是正确的, 你只需要一颗充满恩典的心, 一个由爱产生的灵魂.“这就是服务他人的特别之处，”他说.

“Dr. King will forever be a man who fought for change and impacted the world around us. 尽管我们还没有完全达到我们想要的水平. 金对世界的愿景, we must continue the fight and legacy that he started day in and day out – not just on his day of remembrance.”

志愿者中心志愿者协调员凯瑟琳·卡尔普说. King said it best when he said: “If I cannot do great things, I can do small things in a great way.”

“这项服务(在马丁·路德·金纪念日)完成了，不管它看起来有多小, makes a big difference for our community partners and those they serve,她说。.

学生Luna-马丁内斯, who volunteered at the YWCA in Montclair where they assembled hygiene kits for clients of Family Promise of Essex County, 无家可归者的庇护所, 同意. “我个人喜欢社区服务,她说。, adding that people can be of service every day by doing simple things, 比如“为朋友做食物”, 给他们建议, 检查他们的情况. 这些事情会产生影响.”

相片画廊

Two students stop to take a selfie during the MLK 服务日 Breakfast at the Student Center.

SGA 总统 Richard Steiner-Otoo rallies some of the more than 230 fellow volunteers for their 服务日 assignments.

Students leave the Student Center to their respective volunteer assignments.

Students were shuttled by bus to their off-campus volunteer assignments.

6名女学生坐在公交车座位上对着镜头微笑. — 小十大博彩推荐排名和邦纳领袖玛丽安娜·卢娜-马丁内斯(站着, right) and fellow volunteers board the bus bound for the YWCA in Montclair where they assembled hygiene kits for clients of Family Promise of Essex County, 无家可归者的庇护所.

Students work on making blankets, which were donated to the Covenant House.

三个学生坐在一张桌子旁聊天. — 学生们分享他们关于马丁·路德·金服务日的经验.

A student makes peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to be taken to Toni’s Kitchen at St. 路加在十大博彩推荐排名的圣公会教堂.

一个学生在看纸袋. — A student checks hygiene kits to be donated to a nonprofit organization.

学生们坐在桌子旁写字. — Students write letters to foster children as part of MLK 服务日.

人们围坐在桌子旁，拿着装饰好的纸袋. — 从左, Associate Vice 总统 for Community Partnerships Bryan Murdock and staff members with the Center for Community Engagement Sara Duricko, 克里斯托Woolston, 丹妮拉·奇卡和杰西卡·皮查多展示她们的手工作品.

Quwayne Thompson, a member of Iota Phi Theta, puts together a hygiene kit.

一个女人和两个学生谈话. — 玛姬佩罗, 下一代服务队的主任, talks to students about the program during a service fair at 大学 Hall on MLK 服务日.

Young girl looking at information on table with two college students in the foreground — 蓝色的纸板剪纸, 代表人口贩卖的真正幸存者, 是insight活动的一部分, a popup exhibition by the Global Center on Human Trafficking to bring awareness to the global problem of human trafficking. The cardboard cutouts were placed around campus on MLK 服务日.

一个小男孩坐在著名的非裔美国人的展品前. — 一名露营者在马丁·路德·金的展览下面抓积木. and other historical or famous African Americans at Camp YDP in Paterson.

特约撰稿人报道西尔维娅一个. 马丁内斯. 照片约翰J. LaRosa.