By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
Service projects in honor of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. will continue this year, though on a smaller scale.
This will be the 11th year for Bowling green State University to encourage students to have a day on, rather than a day off, on the holiday honoring King, said Paul Valdez, associate director for the BGSU Center for Community and Civic Engagement.
In the past decade hundreds of students to participate in projects in the community.
This year, however, because of winter session few students are on campus.
Undeterred the center, Valdez said, encouraging students who are able to participate in the “Can”vass, food drive which is now coordinated by the Brown Bag Food Project.
And one group of students who are on campus — athletes — will be spending Monday, Jan. 21, working with local high school athletes.
Details for local commemoration of Martin Luther King Jr. were discussed during a taping for the WBGU-PBS program “The Journal.”
The public affairs program, hosted by Steve Kendall, will air Thursday, Jan. 10, at 8 p.m. then Friday at noon, and Saturday at 10:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. as well as online at wbgu.org.
The King commemoration will begin with the city’s program at the Wood County District Public Library, Friday, Jan. 18, at 1 p.m. The keynote speaker will be Christina Lunceford, Assistant to the President for Diversity and Inclusion at Bowling Green State University.
The Drum Major for Peace Award will also be presented during the ceremony.
The tribute to the civil rights leader hosted by the city’s Human Relations Commission began 30 years ago, Mayor Richard Edwards said. Then the ceremony was held in city council chambers.
Now it is presented in the atrium of the library, and includes musical performances. This year, Edward Duling, organist at the First Presbyterian Church, will play the piano.
“It’s an uplifting event,” Edwards said.
The “Can”vass food drive will take place Saturday, Jan. 19, and Sunday, Jan. 20, each day from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The drive started in 2009 when a group of local residents responded to newly elected President Barack Obama. Brown Bag Food Project has been coordinating the effort for the past three years.
The food collected will be distributed to a half dozen food pantries in the community.
Last year about 200 students and community members volunteered. Most went out into neighborhoods soliciting donations of non-perishable food items. Others stayed back at Grounds for Thought, and sorted and checked the items collected, said Brown Bag founder Amy Jo Holland.
That wasn’t enough to reach all neighborhoods, said Amy Jeffers, a Brown Bag board member who has participated in the food drive since its inception.
Marty Sears, who works in the BGSU Center for Civic and Community Engagement, said that with fewer students on campus because of winter session, this gives others a chance to get involved.
“This was started for the community by the community,” Jeffers said. “This is an opportunity for community members to get involved.”
Meghan Horn, assistant coordinator of the office of student athlete services, said the Jan. 21 activities are an outgrowth of a program initiated by Eastwood Athletic Director Jeff Hill.
In fall he brings athletes to campus for leadership activities, Horn said.
This will expand to a days’ worth of activity on Jan. 21 when as many as 80 students from the area will come to BGSU.
The first will be a panel on leadership, followed by a service project, and ending with a workshop combating stereotypes, including those involving mental health. The workshop is presented by We Are One Team.
This is just one instance, Horn said, of civic involvement by athletes.
So far this year, they have performed 2000 hours of community service.
This is a way, she said, of deepening the connection between the sports teams and the community that supports them.
