Selfless acts, spoken word and an array of colorful service projects can make an impact on a community.
Students and Baton Rouge community volunteers celebrated Martin Luther King Jr. Day through the arts.
Baton Rouge community volunteers joined different service events Monday, including events headed by City Year Baton Rouge, the University’s Office of Multicultural Affairs, the Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative Committee and the National Society of Black Engineers. These organizations serve the community annually by beautifying local areas.
Efforts promoted using the holiday “as a day on, not a day off,” according to the MLK Day of Service Facebook group.
That was the case for City Year, a nonprofit organization working toward support of education and lending academic assistance to struggling local students.
Delicia Van Gurp, City Year project leader and director of event planning, said City Year corp members chose to partake in the MLK Day of Service because much of their organization’s purpose coincides with King’s beliefs.
“We wish to create a beloved community,” Gurp said, “[Martin Luther King Day of Service] is about helping each other move time.”
Tara Strauder, University accounting graduate student, volunteered with her friend, Erica Moss, administrative coordinator for Facility Services. Strauder said she has always volunteered for MLK Day of Service and found out about City Year’s event through Hands On Baton Rouge, a local volunteer service program.
“This mural can show the students the importance of education. I know I wouldn’t have had the opportunity for an education if it were not for Dr. Martin Luther King,” Strauder said as she painted a mural depicting high school graduates.
Da’Anne Lipscomb, La Belle Aire Elementary principal, said although the MLK Day of Service is a holiday, it is more of an opportunity to unite and come together.
“We have a sisterhood with Bellaire High School,” Lipscomb said.
King’s legacy will continue to be honored through the beginning of February with a performing arts night, a diverse dialogues panel and a commemorative celebration on Jan. 25 featuring Virginia Tech professor and world-renowned poet Nikki Giovanni, whose poetry served as a voice for the African-American community in the fight for civil rights during the 1960s and onward.
Giovanni has won many awards ranging from Ebony Magazine Woman of the Year to a Grammy nomination for her Nikki Giovanni Poetry Collection of spoken-word recordings.
Giovanni said nothing can take the place of poetry in terms of community impact.
“Anybody raises a voice. If you just do what you think is right, some good comes from it,” Giovanni said. “It makes us a better ourselves.”
 
 
 
 
Contact Raylea Barrow at [email protected].