Muskingum University celebrated Martin Luther King, Jr. Day with volunteering on the Day of Service. Employees, alumni, and students helped nine local organizations located in the New Concord, Cambridge, and Zanesville areas on Jan. 16.
The day began with volunteers gathering in the Bait Shop located on Muskingum’s campus to meet their group leader and group members. Volunteering took place from 10 a.m.-noon.
Volunteers package boxed lunches in John Glenn Gym. Childhood Hunger Alliance is located in Cincinnati, Columbus, Cleveland, and help feed children with healthy food in 88 Ohio counties. Photo credit: Juan Dunlap
A group of students went to Trulight Ministries, a homeless shelter in Zanesville. “One of the issues when we came in was that one of the guys was like, I think we are running out of body wash…so we ended up going through the back and found body wash that was buried in boxes,” said Brynn Williams, a junior at Muskingum.
Volunteers served food and sorted items donated to the facility. This helps the shelter to continue helping homeless people do their laundry and take showers in a safe space.
More volunteers were at Muskingum County Animal Shelter located in Zanesville. They helped the staff with cleaning and organizing many bins of receipts.
Childhood Hunger Alliance provided the resources on Muskingum’s campus to have volunteers pack boxed meals for Central Ohio families. “Today [we] packaged 600 boxes of meals for students who are unable to get proper meals on the weekends without school being in session…so 3,000 meals were made,” said Amber Bowering, a first year student.
Breaking Free Center is located in Norwich was founded in 2005. Linda Lake felt a calling from God which led her to open the center to help children with disabilities learn how to ride horses.
Breaking Free Therapeutic Riding Center volunteers cleaned horse stalls to prepare for the colder and wet weather. The center helps people with diverse challenges learn how to ride horses as a form of therapy.
A group of students went to College Drive Presbyterian Church in New Concord.
They helped clean some of the church’s excess storage. After working at the church Spencer Jarret said, “I think it was a really good opportunity to come out here with some other guys from my fraternity and make a difference for people in our community. I think it kinda goes back to what Dr.King wanted for people to do’.”
Muskingum County Literacy Council in Zanesville had volunteers Haley Maksin and Jillian Laposky count and record book titles and label newly purchased novels.
Quentin Temple, Chad Love, and Trey Kirstin helped GRACE Pantry reorganize food donations to be distributed. “…if you think about the people you are helping…you spent two hours there and there are five of you so you did 10 hours of work,” said Valerie Smith, Muskingum’s Director of Cultural Engagement and Inclusion.
After volunteering, the groups met at Muskingum’s Walter K. Chess Center for lunch. Alumni, students, and employees were encouraged to discuss their volunteer experiences amongst each other and celebrate their accomplishments of the day.
Members of Phi Kappa Psi, a fraternity on campus, helped Haven of Hope with moving furniture from old offices and cleaning the new office spaces. Muskingum volunteers helped nine organizations during the day.
Judge Rob Hoover, a 1970 Muskingum graduate, said “service has always been a very important part of Muskingum College and Muskingum University…and that’s something that was drilled into me by [my] family by Muskingum when I was here as an undergraduate and it’s something I’ve tried to abide through in my life. But I think it’s absolutely wonderful that you young people are here today.”
The ceremony concluded with Valerie Smith encouraging everyone to be proud of their work and to continue helping others not just for one day.
