Volunteers create fleece blankets for donation to Love A Michigan Vet, First Step, Kids Talk, Vista Maria and Ruth Ellis during the 27th annual MLK Day of Service Jan. 20. More than 400 faculty, staff, students and community members from Henry Ford College and University of Michigan-Dearborn gathered at Kochoff Hall before going to one of 21 volunteer sites in the metropolitan Detroit area. Service activities included organizing clothing for a veteran’s thrift store, food bank stocking at Gleaners and organizing art supplies for children at Arts & Scraps in Detroit, according to a UM-D news release.
By ZEINAB NAJM
Times-Herald Newspapers
Dearborn students volunteer their time with senior citizens at St. Sarkis Towers during the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service Jan. 20.
DEARBORN — More than 50 Dearborn students spent their time volunteering by creating blankets, cards and visiting senior citizens on the 27th annual MLK Day of Service Jan. 20.
Fordson High School sophomore Karim Kadouh and junior Zeinab Alghanem helped plan and facilitate this year’s activities which were a shift from the rally students previously held.
“When we were planning the event last year we wanted to make more of an impact and benefit the community,” Kadouh said. “The change was made from a rally to a community service project after a suggestion by a Fordson Diversity Committee member.”
“We wanted to embody the spirit of Martin Luther King Jr. and his work,” Alghanem said. “Next year we hope to expand the service day event to involve the community and colleges.”
This year like last year, students reached out to local organizations who needed help, teaming up with St. Sarkis Towers, 19230 Ford Road, to spend time with senior citizens.
U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Dearborn) (center) with Dearborn students who show off cards they created for senior citizens, children in hospitals and women in domestic shelters during the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service at the islamic Center of America, 19500 Ford Road Jan. 20.
Half of the student volunteers went to the apartment towers and spent their time playing bingo, sharing stories with the senior citizens and passed out cards made earlier that day.
“We wanted to visit senior citizens because they are the most overlooked in America, but have the most spirit and history,” Alghanem said.
At the islamic Center of America, 19500 Ford Road, the remaining students continued making cards for children in hospitals and women in domestic shelters.
The blankets made will be donated to Detroit hospitals for neglected children when they are examined by nurses and doctors.
Alghanem and Kadouh reflected on the 2020 day of service planned by the district’s Superintendent Student Advisory Council.
“It felt good — it was nice to know that there are students who use their day off for good and directly benefits the local area and community,” Kadouh said.
For Alghanem, she said volunteering time to honor Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy was a small fragment of what could be done by her and other students.
Dearborn students volunteer their time with senior citizens at St. Sarkis Towers during the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service Jan. 20.
“Martin Luther King Jr. was a cultivator for civil rights in America,” she said. “We wanted to honor that aspect of history on his day because as minorities in Dearborn we get to live every day as a result of his work.”
In 2016, the first Real Dearborn March for Martin Luther King Jr. Day was planned to highlight and embrace the community’s diversity and to fight negative representations on social media about Dearborn and its Muslim residents, a district press release said.
“I am very proud of our students for stepping up and organizing this event,” Supt. Glenn Maleyko said in the press release. “It is a fitting tribute to honor Dr. King’s legacy and provides the students the chance to interact with and support the local community.”
(Zeinab Najm can be reached at [email protected])