Students from Shepherd University, in partnership with Promise Neighborhood, a United Way of the Eastern Panhandle initiative, will volunteer Jan. 21 at the Boys and Girls Club in Martinsburg for a Martin Luther King Jr. Day service project.
Organized through Student Community Services and Multicultural Student Affairs, about 30 members of the Multicultural Leadership Team (MLT) plan to teach Boys and Girls Club members about community service.
“My hope is that the Shepherd students, MLTers, realize the impact they can make on this community, not only once a year, but year-round,” said Rachel Crum, community service coordinator at Shepherd.
Volunteers will help Boys and Girls Club members create an indoor herb garden, make no-sew pillows for an infusion clinic and put together necessity kits filled with travel-sized toiletries for the area’s homeless.
The club also will host an open house from 2 to 4 p.m. for all members of the community. Face painting, veteran thank-you letter writing and a reading corner are some of the activities planned, as well as a viewing room for the inauguration events.
In addition, members of Shepherd’s volleyball team will volunteer at four local nonprofit organizations.
Shepherd students also will help serve a free hot meal to the community at Immanuel’s House in Martinsburg from 5 to 8 p.m.
“I think it is important that we volunteer on MLK Day because it emphasizes it is not a day off, it is a day of service,” said Bassell Franks, assistant to the director of Multicultural Student Affairs and a former MLT member.
Any student interested in volunteer work may call the Office of Student Community Services at 304-876-5402.
