A Day of Service
At Central Michigan University, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is celebrated with an annual week of events honoring his life and legacy of service.
In partnership with CMU’s Multicultural Academic Student Services, the Mary Ellen Brandell Volunteer Center held the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service in the Bovee University Center Rotunda on January 15, 2024.
Symantha Dattilo, Assistant Director of the Mary Ellen Brandell Volunteer Center, planned and hosted this year’s event.
“We see MLK Day as a day on and not a day off,” Dattilo said. “With MLK’s dedication and his life’s mission in service of community, we provide students with an opportunity to do some volunteering.”
From 12-3 p.m., a variety of service projects were offered to benefit various communities. The activities included making blankets, valentines for veterans, snack bag decorations, bookmarks, and thank you letters for healthcare workers.
The projects are going to Foster Closet of Isabella County, Veterans Affairs Hospitals in Michigan, Kids Food Basket in Grand Rapids, local school districts, and one of the volunteer center’s community partners in Bay Pines, Florida.
Over 400 students participated, which was nearly four times more than expected, Dattilo said.
“We were expecting somewhere in the realm of 100 to 120 students… so the turnout was actually much, much higher than we were anticipating,” Dattilo said.
This being Dattilo’s fourth year of hosting at a full-time capacity, her favorite part about the MLK Jr. Day of Service is seeing students from all ends of campus come together on a day off school.
“There are folks from all over campus who need service hours for various scholarships or class requirements or as part of their residential colleges, but also students who are just really interested in getting out that day and participating,” Dattilo said.
“We see students interacting who might normally not spend time together, which is really exciting.”
The events on MLK Jr. Day weren’t like past years, Dattilo said. Without the day’s usual service brunch or the Peace March and Vigil, it was important for the volunteer center to be thoughtful about students having enough to eat that day, so being able to offer students lunch alongside their service was exciting.
“Community building often happens around meals, and with food insecurity in particular, it can be a barrier to building community and building a sense of belonging,” Dattilo said. “So, offer[ing] food to students to… enjoy alongside volunteering and creating a space of community building was really important to us.”
The MLK Jr. Day of Service is just one of many events throughout the week, and Dattilo hopes other students will participate in other events outside of MLK Jr. Day put on by CMU’s Office of Multicultural Academic Student Services, like the It Starts with Me: A Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Showcase or the MLK Jr. Charity Student Vs. Faculty/Staff Basketball Game.
“That Monday is really reserved for thinking about and celebrating MLK Day,” Dattilo said. “So, I hope not just this year but every year students will really work hard at participating in the full week’s events because it can be really meaningful.”
Project Description:
'A Day of Service' was one of my projects for my capstone class JRN 521: Seminar in News Photography. Here, I was tasked to create a video and write a short story about one of the Martin Luther King Jr. week events held on Central Michigan's campus. I attended the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service and interviewed the event's planner for the project.