A Day Of Giving Back
Montclair’s MLK Day of Service draws students to volunteer on campus, in communities
Mariana Luna-Martinez still recalls vividly when, as a small child, she and her family lost all of their belongings in a fire, as did everyone else who lived in their apartment building. She also recalls how the community rallied around her family and helped them get back on their feet.
Luna-Martinez, now a junior Biology major at Montclair and a Bonner Leader, learned from her parents the importance of community service from a young age, so not surprisingly, this was her third year to volunteer for the University’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service. “We always made sure we helped other people,” she says. “Those lessons and being brought up like that – that you volunteer not just specific days but every day…. It’s just those things that make me realize that MLK’s message is more than just going to help out for two to three hours.”
She and more than 230 Montclair students and alumni answered the call to give back, participating in Montclair’s MLK Day of Service on January 16 in a big way. Students gathered at University Hall for breakfast and to reflect on the words and messages of the slain civil rights leader before being deployed to various locations both on and off campus – in Montclair and the surrounding area – for their volunteer assignments, which included everything from making blankets and sandwiches for shelters to distributing fire safety information with the Montclair Fire Department.