U of L students honor Martin Luther King Jr. with a day spent working for others

Grace Schneider
Louisville Courier Journal

On a blustery Monday morning, the snowflakes whipped freely around Armond Thompson's ducked head as he shoved open a door to a University of Louisville classroom building and followed the sounds of conversation down a corridor.

He found an auditorium brimming with a record 225 students gathered for a day of service to honor slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. There were free bagels, hot chocolate and coffee — and most popular — cool black T-shirts with an image of King's face beside bold "MLK" letters on the front.

Students spread out across the city to lend a hand at several nonprofit locations, including the Kentucky Science Center and Lampton Baptist Church. They packed warm kits for the homeless, stocked shelves at a food pantry and assembled medical binders for a group called Critically Loved, which helps parents of chronically ill children organize health care records and other information.

"I think our purpose is to help others," said Thompson, a computer information systems major from Jeffersonville, Indiana. "It's just important. Everybody needs help sometime."

The 26-year-old junior rode a bus with 17 others to the Americana Community Center on Southside Drive. There they moved artificial Christmas trees and garland from a stage area to a basement storage closet at the former high school building.

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U of L students Tyra Kemp, left, and Spechelle Goodwin fold brochures at the Americana Community Center in Louisville on Monday. They were volunteering as part of the MLK Day of Service.

Some students folded brochures. Others pitched in to move heavy filing cabinets from an office to another storage space. They ran out of time for another project that volunteer coordinator Taylor Bryant had in mind — bolting together donated wooden office furniture and moving it around the multistory facility.

The burst of legwork was a big help, Bryant said, and more significantly, "it demonstrates the community's support." She's already seen several return volunteers from U of L, which is great because it means Americana and the students are beginning to forge a connection.  

The student organization Engage Lead Serve Board, which oversaw the MLK Day of Service on Monday, also leads a daylong activity in August to cap orientation before the fall semester. The January service day has steadily grown in numbers and popularity, said senior Alisha Deshmukh, a biology major who serves with the group.

Many at U of L seem to agree that there's no reason to take a day off when there's a national holiday, especially one that celebrates the legacy of King.

"It's a free day, so use it for good," she said. The involvement has "made me realize MLK's legacy." 

It's also huge for an array of groups that don't get the money or the help they need. Sending a crew to work for a few hours, Deshmukh said, "really helps them in the long run. We're young and able-bodied." 

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Grace Schneider: 502-582-4082; gschneider@courierjournal.com; Twitter: @gesinfk. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: courier-journal.com/graces.