When Taquanda Walker Turner started volunteering, she always had her children by her side.
This Monday at 9 a.m., Turner will have her two sons, Tyzir and Tristen Turner, and daughter, Taraya Walker, helping load teachers’ vehicles with school supplies.
“My boys, they like doing it, but they’re young,” Turner said. “What we teach them now will stick with them forever. So I always teach them to volunteer.”
For Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service, United Way of Lowndes County will distribute school supplies to teachers at the soccer complex at 9 a.m. Interim Director Renee Sanders said the idea for Tools for School came to her when she saw how much teachers give to their students, often supplying their classrooms from their own pockets.
“The teachers pour into their students physically and financially,” Sanders said. “It’s important for us to pour into them. It’s a time for us to reach back.”
Supplies are available for public and private school teachers in Lowndes County. Even with more than 100 volunteers signed up, Sanders said she still is looking for more to help organize pencils, paper, scissors, hand sanitizer, wipes and more school supplies for Monday’s service project.
“It’s a national day of service,” Sanders said. “We want this to be a day on, not a day off. This is our opportunity for people to get out and do service to commemorate Martin Luther King.”
Though every day is important to volunteer, Walker said, getting out and helping others on a holiday makes it that more special.
“It’s very important to help our teachers,” Walker said. “I know they don’t get a lot of funding. It’s important to support the teachers who are helping raise our children. Everyone needs support. If everyone helped everyone, the world would be a better place. It doesn’t cost anything, it just takes time. It makes me want to cry sometimes, giving back to others and doing exactly what Martin Luther King would want us to do.”
Columbus will host a free 8 a.m. breakfast Monday at Trotter Convention Center, an event sponsored by the city, Columbus-Lowndes Convention and Visitors Bureau, Lowndes County Board of Supervisors, Columbus Air Force Base and Mississippi University for Women. The breakfast will also highlight a speech from Rita Felton, retired command chief master sergeant at CAFB.
MLK Day, commemorating the icon of the Civil Rights Movement, is one of two national days of service recognized by Congress. The other is Sept. 11, which honors first responder efforts following the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, D.C., in 2001.
Starkville
Kauther Garber, a graduate student at Mississippi State University, started volunteering as an undergraduate with Maroon Volunteer Center, but it wasn’t until she helped build a house for Habitat for Humanity that she felt like she was a part of Starkville.
“Habitat had a real impact on me,” Garber said. “Physically assisting to build the house made the accomplishment all more real. It’s cool to see the house done. It’s all the more worth it seeing the applicant receiving the house. The pure joy and gratitude is amazing.”
On Monday at The Mill in Starkville, Garber will join about 400 volunteers registered with Volunteer Starkville and Maroon Volunteer Center for various MLK Day of Service projects.
“This is a really great way for volunteers to get a glimpse of the community,” Garber said. “It’s also a really great way to connect with the community and meet different people you may not have access to.”
Meggan Franks, interim director of student services and community outreach, said MVC has gathered more than 20 organizations where volunteers will be deployed. Projects will include sorting laundry at Palmer Home and donations at the Salvation Army, beautifying parks and spending time with residents at assisted living facilities.
“It’s exciting to see how many people want to give back,” Franks said. “It’s a great family friendly event to celebrate Martin Luther King and his legacy.”
The day of service will start with a free breakfast at 8 a.m. on Monday at The Mill on Russell Street. Those in attendance can sort through booths to find which organization they want to help from 10:45 a.m.-12:45 p.m. For Chris Taylor, former Oktibbeha NAACP president, he said he’ll follow the kids.
“I always volunteer but I’m going to wait until I see where the younger ones go,” Taylor said. “It just reminds you of things you don’t want to do again. It’s to remind you of the past so we don’t repeat it.”
West Point
Anna Jones is spearheading a march Monday at 9 a.m. starting at Navistar in West Point.
Hoping for good weather and a strong crowd, Jones said the march will end at Mary Holmes College gymnasium for a 10 a.m. program. It will include guest speaker Lesha Agnew of Chander’s Temple CME Church, music and more.
For Jones, celebrating Martin Luther King and his fight for equality should be a day of celebration rather than a simple three-day weekend.
“We’re doing this to remind the community as a whole of Dr. Martin Luther King,” Jones said. “We need to celebrate how he fought for equal rights. It’s a community thing and I welcome anybody who wants to volunteer and help us.”
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