Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service is a day to celebrate compassion for everyone in our community, and to take action to address social problems and build stronger communities. This MLK Day and throughout 2019, several chapters of The Arc and other community organizations will be developing inclusive volunteering projects that seek to address a critical issue that impacts many Americans, including 13 million children: hunger resulting from food insecurity. Here’s what some of our 2019 grantees are up to:
In Michigan, The Arc of Midland and partner Hidden Harvest will not only be feeding people in need but helping people eat healthily. At their January kick-off event, volunteers with and without disabilities not only provided packaged food to people in need but also taught people how to create easy and nutritious meals from the donated food. This spring and summer, volunteers will be working in The Arc of Midland’s community garden to plant, grow, and harvest fresh food that will be donated to people in need.
For the past three years, The Arc of South Carolina has been celebrating compassion with every kid’s favorite meal through its annual Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich-making Competition. The competition is held at the University of South Carolina, where volunteers from the university, the Best Buddies program, and the Columbia community face-off to make tasty sandwiches for people in need on MLK Day. This year, 4,630 sandwiches were made to provide to people who may not otherwise have a meal that day! Throughout the rest of their MLK Day grant, The Arc of South Carolina will be focusing on feeding people and teaching people about how to cook healthy meals. Through the Cooking EdVentures program, volunteers with disabilities will learn how to make healthy and nutritious meals, and then will donate this food to local partners like the 153 Project, who feed people in need in the Columbia community.
Want to know more about our MLK Day of Service project and other volunteer efforts around the country? Contact Abby Owusu at Owusu@thearc.org.
And – stay tuned for updates from our other 10 grantees this year as they implement their own unique volunteer projects:
- The Arc Nature Coast (FL)
- The Arc of the Glades (FL)
- CCL-DE (DE – subsidiary of Liberty Arc NY)
- The Arc Lane County (OR)
- TARC (OK)
- The Arc of Rockland (NY)
- The Arc of Spokane (WA)
- AHRC NYC
- HollyRidge (WA)
- The Arc Georgia