[Salt Lake City] – The Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service on Jan. 16, marks the beginning of the 2012 year of service as millions of Americans honor the memory of Dr. King by contributing their time, talent, voice and money to improve their communities.
The Utah Commission on
Volunteers and the Corporation for National and Community Service are
encouraging local residents to join the hundreds of thousands of Americans
across the country in making the holiday “a day on, not a day off”, by
serving others.
“Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
committed his life to service and to ensuring that all people are treated with
respect and fairness,” said LaDawn
Stoddard, Acting Executive Director of the Utah Commission on Volunteers. “By serving today and throughout the year, we
honor Dr. King and help realize his dream of equality and opportunity for all.”
The Utah Commission on
Volunteers is working with seven volunteer connector organizations this January
to provide opportunities for Utah residents to serve on this year’s MLK Day.
MLK Day Activities will be held between Jan 14th
and Jan 24th
The
Cache Valley Volunteer Center and
the Utah State University PALs mentoring program will be hosting an “I Have a
Dream” reception for at-risk youth in local mentoring programs and students at
in the Logan School District will be invited to submit their “I Have a Dream”
service project idea based on something they would like to see improved at
their school.
Volunteers
for the Thayne Learning and Service
Center at Salt Lake Community College will participate in one of several
projects that will include sorting through food donations, assembling food
boxes distributed to low-income seniors in the Salt Lake Valley and mobile food
boxes distributed to rural parts of the state of Utah. The projects will take
place January 16, 2012, 9:00am-
12:00pm.
United Way of Northern Utah will partner with Ogden City
The
United Way of Salt Lake is partnering
with several organizations including the Maliheh Free Clinic, where staff and
volunteers will conduct volunteer awareness and recruiting events at various
locations. Playworks Salt Lake City will hold a Community Night for training
students and families on games they can play with kids for basic conflict
resolution strategies.
The Friends of Washington County
Volunteer Center, through their Upward
Bound program, will host a carnival for veterans and their families, including
games, food and a short service by some veterans. The Youth Volunteer Corps
(YVC) of Washington and Iron Counties
Weber State University Community
Involvement Center (CIC) will partner
with National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in hosting a
community breakfast and a Freedom Walk. CIC will also partner with St. Anne’s
Homeless Shelter, Anything for a Friend, LINUS Project and Habitat for Humanity
for various projects throughout the week.
The United Way of Utah County will be hosted a Community Outreach Day on January
16th. Volunteers will come to the BYU Wilkinson Center and sign up for a
project between 8:30-9:30 AM,
with a devotional from 9:30-10:00 AM and
projects lasting until about 12 noon.
There will be nearly 30 service projects that people can choose to participate
in during the event.
To
learn more about and participate in these MLK Day activities please visit
volunteers.utah.gov.
The Corporation for National
and Community Service, in partnership with State Service Commissions, sponsors annual
MLK Day of Service projects, through local nonprofits. Projects are taking
place in all fifty states and include delivering meals, refurbishing schools
and community centers, collecting food and clothing, signing up mentors,
reading to children, promoting nonviolence, and more.
The mission of the Utah Commission on Volunteers, an Office of the Lieutenant Governor, is to improve communities through service and volunteerism. For more information visit our website www.volunteers.utah.gov
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