On Monday, Jan. 15, Penn State Wilkes-Barre will celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr. Day with a Day “ON” Event. The Student Activities Office, along with support from the Penn State Wilkes-Barre Student Government Association, will be hosting a breakfast, which starts at 9 a.m.; and a viewing and discussion of Martin Luther King Jr’s “I Have a Dream” speech, led by William Bachman, communications professor. Members of the campus community will then volunteer with Ruth’s Place Homeless Shelter. The day's events end at 2:30 p.m.
“By turning this day off into a day ON, it helps our students to understand the importance of giving back to their community in whatever way possible,” said Jackie Warnick-Piatt, student activities coordinator. “Our students, throughout the academic year, do a variety of community outreach from Care Package Drives to Food Drives, Habitat for Humanity to THON’s monetary collections for Children With Cancer at the Hershey Medical Center and so much more.”
The National Martin Luther King Day of Service was started by former Pennsylvania U.S. Senator Harris Wofford and Atlanta Congressman John Lewis, who co-authored the King Holiday and Service Act. The federal legislation challenges Americans to transform the King Holiday into a day of citizen action and volunteer service grounded in [Martin Luther King, Jr.’s] teachings of nonviolence and social justice. The federal legislation was signed into law by President Bill Clinton on August 23, 1994.
For more information, or to register to volunteer, contact Warnick-Piatt at 570-675-9284 or jackiewp@psu.edu.