Dr. Martin Luther King Celebration and Service

Remember!  Celebrate!  Act!

In January 2011, Durham Tech hosted its first "Day On, Not a Day Off" service event in conjuction with the college's celebration honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Schools across the country have heeded the call to make Martin Luther King, Jr. (MLK) Day a "Day of Service." Durham Tech decided that their "Year of Service" was a great time to accept the service challenge. The MLK Committee expanded their long-standing tradition of celebration by including action. Durham Tech has hosted a Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. celebration for faculty and staff for 26 years, which means the Durham Tech tradition started before the day was made a national holiday!

Dr. King's vision has not been fully achieved for all, and thousands of MLK Day celebrations, including Durham Tech’s, now include service activities to address the unmet needs that prevent a full realization of Dr. King's vision. This year, faculty and staff served others through the following activities:

• Creating Success Binders to help 5th grade R.N. Harris students transition to middle school;
• Cleaning the conference room of R.N. Harris, including steam cleaning conference chairs, so that faculty and staff had a professional place to plan and coordinate their important work;
• Collecting canned food for local pantries, which often run low in the first part of the year; and
• Collecting new and gently used coats and outerwear to benefit local shelters’ patrons during this cold weather.

Inspired by the success of the previous year’s service events, Durham Tech continued to include service in the MLK Celebrations of 2012. Faculty and staff came together on January 13, donating their time, money, and supplies to assemble 45 casseroles for the Community Café of Urban Ministries of Durham. In addition to the casseroles, they were able to donate dozens of cans of nonperishable food items.

Durham Tech’s Student Senate hosted a celebration, service event, and social issues awareness fair on January 17th. After a morning civility chat, which emphasized the importance of service to the community and included a reading of “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” students gathered in the cafeteria to assemble 36 hygiene kits for the clients of Urban Ministries. During this time, students were asked to voice their concerns about barriers to their educational success. Recognizing need among their peers, the Student Senate also distributed 50 emergency food bags to students in need and provided information on resources within the community.

More information on the national MLK Day of Service can be found at http://www.mlkday.gov/