anuary 16 was not a day off for L.C. Austin. It was a day on. He and scores of other TCU students honored the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., by turning MLK Day, a national holiday, into a day of helping others and the local community.
The TCU event, organized by Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity and the TCU chapters of the National Association of Colored Women’s Club and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, is a part of United We Serve, President Obama’s national call-to-service initiative.
Students helped with trash cleanup, weeding community gardens, stocking food pantry shelves, making care packages, writing letters to soldiers overseas and more.
“We want to start the year and the semester off right with a day of service in the community,” Austin said. “We are asking people to make 2012 a year to serve in the local community.”
Initiated by Congress in 1994, King Day of Service is a national day of community service. Volunteering provides a powerful economic and social benefit to communities across the nation, with 62.8 million adults nationwide serving almost 8.1 billion hours through organizations in 2010.
The TCU event is supported by The Center for Community Involvement & Service-Learning, The Multicultural Alliance of Fort Worth, Inclusiveness & Intercultural Services and Religious & Spiritual Life.