Elon University students partnered with members of Elon First Baptist Church this week to help local residents with maintenance and improvement projects during the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service. Congress initiated the nationwide program in 1994.
“The university and the church came together in such a way that the day offered an opportunity to serve, to share and to sacrifice time and talent,” said M. Keith McDaniels, pastor of Elon First Baptist Church. “This is what Dr. King believed would aid in realizing a just society, namely that persons would be willing to give of themselves in an effort to better society and persons within it.”
The Jan. 19 national event was co-sponsored by the Corporation for National & Community Service, the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change and USAService.org. More than 12,000 service projects took place in all 50 states.
“I greatly appreciate the genuine care and concern demonstrated for the African American community of Elon,” said Leon Williams, director of the Multicultural Center at Elon and one of the program organizers. “Both Elon University and Elon First Baptist look forward to continued growth and development in the community.”