Alicia Washington, accounting sophomore, squinted her eyes, focusing on her paint roller as she coated the ceiling of a small apartment with milky white paint. Two hundred paint-spattered University students and faculty spent about eight hours painting and cleaning 14 apartments Saturday at Roosevelt Terrace for the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service. The Day of Service ended the University’s week-long MLK celebration. The group was bused to Roosevelt Terrace after they met at the Union Cotillion Ballroom at 8 a.m. for registration and breakfast. The Office of Multicultural Affairs provided the group with MLK Commemorative Celebration t-shirts. Dorothy Kemp, marketing senior, served as the MLK Commemorative Celebration Committee’s team leader for the event. “My favorite part is looking back at the finished product and knowing that we’ve done something great for someone else,” she said. Kemp said rainy weather canceled the group’s plan to pick up trash and clean outside the apartments. The Community University Partnership, East Baton Rouge Housing Authority and OMA sponsored the community service project. James Daisy, East Baton Rouge Housing Authority Maintenance Superintendent, said families will move into the units after they are painted, cleaned and checked for other maintenance problems. “I appreciate what they’re doing,” he said. “I thank the students for coming out today.” Ogo Ifelayo, finance junior, said he enjoyed his first time volunteering for the Day of Service. “I’m having a good time while working,” he said. “It’s easy to get bored, but we’re bonding and having fun.” Jordan Cheatham, kinesiology and French sophomore, said she was worried because she didn’t know anyone in her group prior to the event. “It feels good to help other people and meet people in the process,” said Cheatham, who met Ifelayo at the Day of Service. Valerie Craven, English sophomore, helped paint a two-bedroom apartment. She said she was happy to be part of the event. “I feel like a lot of people in the city are without things that I have already,” she said. “I like giving back to the community. The good turnout didn’t surprise me, and I feel like we should have more days like this.”
—–Contact Angelle Barbazon at [email protected]