Beans and Rice sponsors Martin Luther King Day of Service
Beans and Rice, Inc. a New River Valley non-profit company located in Pulaski and Radford, is sponsoring Martin Luther King Day of Service activities on Monday, Jan. 21, with students from Pulaski Middle School, Dublin Elementary School, Meadowview Apartment Community Learning Center, McHarg Elementary School and Belle Heth Elementary School.
Beans and Rice is a community economic development organization that builds assets and develops capacities in low and moderate income families through economic and educational programs. Beans and Rice works with students and service partners each year to fulfill the goals of MLK Day of Service.
In 1994, Congress designated the Martin Luther King Jr. Federal Holiday as a national day of service and charged the Corporation for National and Community Service with leading this effort. Taking place each year on the third Monday in January, the MLK Day of Service is the only federal holiday observed as a national day of service – a “day on, not a day off.”
This year activities of service will include:
- Packaging care packages for soldiers in Afghanistan through the Adopt-A-Platoon program
- Work with Friends of the Pulaski County Library
- Painting inspirational service mural at the Pulaski Hensel Eckman YMCA
- Work with the Pulaski Health & Rehabilitation Center
- Baking, decorating and packaging cookies for nursing homes, shut-ins and fellow students
- Nutrition workshop with help from the VA Coop Ext Service/Americorps/VISTA program assisted by nutrition students from VA Tech and Radford University
- An evening celebration of the MLK Day of Service at Pulaski Middle School with student skits, presentations by Beans and Rice executive director Mr. Eric Bucey and a guest speaker– Mr. Howard Eaves from Blacksburg
- Workshops for anyone planning to attend college will be offered in February with help on key preparation and life management skills (more information will be published later)
Partners include:
- Friends of the Pulaski Library
- Hensel Eckman YMCA | Pulaski
- Pulaski Health & Rehabilitation Center
- Pulaski Middle School
- Dublin Elementary School
- Meadowview Apartments – Pulaski
- Community Housing Partners – Christiansburg
- McHarg Elementary School
- Belle Heth Elementary School
- Adopt-A-Platoon.org
- United States Postal Service
- Sherwin-Williams Paints – Pulaski
- Virginia Coop Ext. – Pulaski (Kathy Koch and the Americorps/VISTA program)
- Nutrition students from Virginia Tech and Radford University
- Eileen Weigand – exercise therapist
- Howard Eaves – Blacksburg
Submitted by Buz Booker
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