If Martin Luther King Jr. dreamed of black and white children playing together in harmony, the scene inside Small Folks Development Center, 3140 S. Pennsylvania Ave., in Lansing, on Monday would have been a fantasy.
About a dozen kids — black, white, Mexican, Colombian — run around in the day care. Other children at the day care are blind or have been diagnosed with Down syndrome, yet it makes no difference when it comes to playing and interacting.
Just as diverse as the children were the 20-some MSU students who spent the morning playing with the kids and cleaning the day care through Into the Streets MLK Day of Service.
Juanita Castillo, the director of Small Folks Development Center, said because the day care works to accommodate all children regardless of their parent’s ability to pay, she was grateful for the assistance from Into the Streets, an MSU group which has organized volunteers across Greater Lansing for 20 years.
“We’ve always given back to the community,” Castillo said.
“A lot of centers charge parents (who rely on the Department of Social Service), but we don’t because we want to give back to the community.”
Since 1999, the first year MSU canceled classes on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, MSU students have been serving the community, said family community services senior Sam Gorton, co-chair of Into the Streets.
“It’s good way for students to find a connection in the community,” Gordon said.
“Most people aren’t from Lansing or East Lansing, but it makes students feels like they’re part of the community.”
This year, about 230 students signed up to work at 11 different agencies and nonprofits in East Lansing, Lansing and Williamston, Mich. About 15 MSU student groups also volunteered together through Into the Streets, including Muslim Students Association, the Bailey Scholars Program and Men in Progress.
Many of the student-assisted organizations work for the good of the community but often struggle to make their own ends meet, such as the case with Impression 5 Science Center in Lansing, a nonprofit hands-on museum.
Bill Klier, the museum’s maintenance coordinator, said the museum often is understaffed. Student volunteers helped Monday with painting and maintenance as well as cleaning the exhibits — an important task especially with flu season in full swing.
“It’s great when you have help like that when you’re short-handed as it is,” Klier said.
“They were just doing it to do it — to come out and help — it just means the world to us.”
Biosystems engineering senior Miranda Sperry said she felt she had a responsibility to help out the community.
“We’re so privileged,” Sperry said.
“We need to use our time in a good fashion instead of wasting it on selfish things.”
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