Martin Luther King Jr. Day is recognized as a Day of Service to the community. That’s true in Leelanau County where we found multiple service projects underway.
In Lake Leelanau, a volunteer crew from TBA Credit Union is spending their work day out of the office. Chris Milliron says it’s a good way to spend the time. “We’re always looking for unique ways to help serve the community. When we got the call it was too good of an opportunity to pass up. It’s more practical, ‘hands-on’ if you will. I know a lot of times being in the office we’re on the flip-side, trying to help people figure out how to finance these projects. So it’s great to be able to connect with actually getting our hands into it, so it’s fun.” 
They’re helping remodel this home for Habitat for Humanity – and finding that volunteer work has an added benefit. Milliron says, “It’s great, great team-building. You get to know somebody’s passion. We had Andrea inside helping tear up subfloor, Carrie was helping line up nails everywhere, Mark’s filling in everywhere, I don’t think I’ve seen them stop moving since we’ve been out here.”
The United Way is helping coordinate the Day of Service, and says the volunteers are the most important part of the day. Jessica Tibbs says, “We have almost 30 volunteers serving throughout the community. We like to say it’s a day on, not a day off. A lot of people have the day off work today but we’re hoping to make it a day on for Day of Service to support our neighbors in the region.”
Tibbs says one of the goals for service projects is to address financial stability, and working on a Habitat home is a prime example of doing just that. “The goal of today is to bring each other together, and work on tough issues and just build each other up and build a stronger community for our neighbors to live in.”
Down the road in Leelanau County, kids at the Pathfinder School near Greilickville are finding ways to help others, too. They’re doing their own Day of Service projects. Teacher Belinda Belanger says the message to students is that “the world is bigger than just you or yourself, and there are so many people in the world that need help.”
Against a painted backdrop with Dr. King looking on, students are taking on a special sewing project to help wildlife in Australia – facing danger from the ongoing brush fires there. “We are doing bat wraps for bats. Most of them are orphaned bats that their mothers are gone. We’re also doing several different sizes of Joey pouches but Joey pouches can be used for any marsupial animal.” They’re also making hanging pouches for rescuers to use. “A lot of the rescuers will wear those when they go out into the field so then they can get the animal and scoop those into the bag that’s kind of close by them, and they wear those during the days.”
It’s a lesson that reaches far beyond the classroom. “Martin Luther King Day is often a day off, but the kids don’t necessarily learn as much about what is the purpose of having Martin Luther Day. We value it as a day of service, and help our kids learn more about the gift of giving back to others.”
The school will be taking donations all week long from others who can help sew the simple patterns as well.
For information on how to help, you can visit the Michigan Relief Crafters of America,
or contact teacher Belinda Belanger at bbelanger@thepathfinderschool.org
"service" - Google News
January 21, 2020 at 05:54AM
https://ift.tt/36iIgpW
Leelanau County Joins in MLK Day of Service - 9&10 News
"service" - Google News
https://ift.tt/369Lih1
Shoes Man Tutorial
Pos News Update
Meme Update
Korean Entertainment News
Japan News Update
No comments:
Post a Comment