Even though classes were cancelled Monday in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, human resource management freshman Princess Harmon and 214 other students sat at desks in N130 Business College Complex and awaited their assignments.
These students, participating in the MLK Day of Service, helped 14 different volunteering agencies in the Lansing area — from cleaning up the Red Cedar River with the Office of Campus Sustainability to sorting seeds at the Greater Lansing Food Bank, 919 Filley St., in Lansing.
Into the Streets, the community service student organization that planned the event, sent Harmon to the food bank where she sorted seeds, which eventually will be given to families to start low-cost gardens.
“Martin Luther King Jr. had such an impact on the community, it’s important keep his legacy (alive) by going into the community,” Harmon said, adding she didn’t mind waking up early on her day off from classes.
While Harmon chose the route of volunteering to help a local organization on MLK Day, hundreds of other students enjoyed the break from classes by visiting local businesses. Others gathered to march from the Union to Beaumont Tower in remembrance.
Economics senior Dave Walsh used his day off to sleep in until 1 p.m. Since classes were cancelled, Walsh said MLK Day presented him and his friends the opportunity for a rare, guilt-free Sunday night at the bar.
“We figured, ‘Why not?’” he said. “Who doesn’t want to take an extra day off?”
Walsh isn’t alone — each year, East Lansing bars prepare for long lines and a 25-30 percent financial boost the days surrounding MLK Day, Buffalo Wild Wings general manager Aaron Weiner said.
Across town, the Greater Lansing Food Bank also felt a boost from their volunteers, seeing tasks that had sat on their to-do list for months vanish in a day.
“This is huge”, said Neal Valley, an Americorps volunteer for the Food Bank, as he continued to sort colorful seed packets.
“This project we’re working on today is one we’ve been trying to power through all year. We’ll get through in one day what would have taken three or four months.”
After a day of volunteering with Into the Streets, advertising sophomore Egypt Eaddy met up with friends at the Union to be a part of Alpha Phi Alpha’s Commemorative March to Beaumont Tower to celebrate King and the values he stood for.
In addition to helping others by volunteering, she said she personally benefitted from the holiday.
“It’s kind of a way to celebrate Martin Luther King (Jr.) day even deeper by celebrating what he stood for,” Eaddy said.
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