In celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, more than 500 students from the Nashville area, including students from Belmont, Fisk, Lipscomb, Tennessee State, Trevecca Nazarene and Vanderbilt Universities, gathered together on Saturday, January 19 for a day of service to honor the life and legacy of Dr. King. After beginning their morning on at TSU’s Keen Hall for a kick-off event and keynote address given by Charlane Oliver, President of The Equity Alliance, the group was split into teams and headed into the city to work alongside nonprofits in the area.
More than 20 site locations were offered to students this year including Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee, Trevecca’s Urban Farm, The Nashville Food Project, Thrift Alliance, Feed the Children and The Schrader Lane Vine Hill Child Care Center, among many others.
Participated students provided community partners with a number of completed service projects including sorting donations and merchandise, packing boxes of food and other household essentials, cleaning up a local park, cleaning facilities, organizing materials and painting.
Afterward completing their projects, the group re-assembled for reflection and celebration.
Tim Stewart, Director of Service Learning, said, “Seeing over 350 people of diverse backgrounds come together to celebrate the life and legacy of Dr. King by serving others was very inspiring. The greatness of our community was evident in Dr. King’s quote ‘everybody can be great…because anybody can serve’. We’re not there yet, but events like this give me hope that Dr. King’s Dream is very much alive.”
Photo provided by Trevecca Nazarene University Photographer
