SCC Foundation supports First Annual SCC King Day of Service

SCC Center for Service Learning coordinates day of service on MLK Day 2010 (Jan. 18, 2010) to support local food banks

Every January, students, faculty and staff from Shoreline Community College join millions of others around the country to pay tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. This year, along with speeches and other activities, the college is planning a food drive on January 18 at nine local grocery stores, including two in Shoreline, as the focal point for a day of community service in King’s honor. 

“MLK Day was declared a national day of service by Congress in 1994,” said Kaelyn Caldwell, SCC’s service-learning coordinator. “What better way to honor Dr. King than to bring a community together to help others on his day?” 

Coordinated through the Center for Service Learning, Caldwell also worked with SCC Veterans Center coordinator Jonathan Phillips and student Ava Munson, who serves in student government as Minister of Social Justice. The project is supported by the Dr. Ronald E. Bell Student Leadership Fund through the SCC Foundation.

“Local food banks and the people who rely on them are suffering. Demand is increasing while donations are not,” Caldwell said. Food banks in the Shoreline/North Seattle area have reported a 30 percent increase in the use of their emergency food services, she said.

The drive’s goal is ambitious, to collect 25,000 pounds of food. Volunteers will be at the stores to take donations from 9:30 am - 5:30 pm, January 18. Volunteers will also have suggested shopping lists with those items most needed by food banks. 

All donations will be distributed to partnering food banks, including: Hopelink, the Greenwood Food Bank and North Helpline/Lake City Food Bank. While the main thrust of the drive will be on Martin Luther King Day at the participating grocery stores, Caldwell said the team, which includes more than 20 students, will also take donations January19 on campus. 

The participating grocery stores in the SCC MLK Day of Service Food Drive, 9:30 am - 5:30 pm, January 18, 2010 are: 

• Central Market, 15505 Westminster Way
• Fred Meyer, 18325 Aurora Ave N
  

March photo by Erik Stuhaug
From Seattle Municipal Archives

Service learning at SCC
In October, 2007, the college joined Washington Campus Compact, a statewide coalition of colleges and universities to promote service learning. Washington Campus Compact has a grant from AmeriCorps*VISTA to help serve people in poverty through service learning.