SFA, community encouraged to participate in 2019 MLK Day of Service

NACOGDOCHES, Texas - The Stephen F. Austin State University Office of Multicultural Affairs encourages the campus and Nacogdoches communities to submit community work projects for the ninth annual MLK Day of Service scheduled for Jan. 21.

The deadline to submit a project is Jan. 4, 2019. Volunteers are needed and can sign up online at sfasu.edu/oma now through Jan. 9. Participants will receive a free lunch and event T-shirt.

"This day is not a day of selfishness but of selflessness. Please join us as we focus on truly honoring Dr. King's legacy by helping others," said Veronica Beavers, OMA director.

As part of this year's day of service, SFA will partner with Keep Nacogdoches Beautiful and SFA's Food for Thought food pantry. Students also will be helping with the senior-friendly community garden.

Other service projects will be conducted at public parks, private homes and a variety of other sites. Hundreds of student volunteers are expected to take part in projects, such as painting and landscaping. Last year students helped at Millard's Crossing Historic Village, St. Paul African-American Cemetery, Habitat Restore and Thomas J. Rusk Elementary School.

Event check-in will begin at 8:30 a.m. in the Baker Pattillo Student Center Theater, second floor. Guest speaker the Rev. Leonard Sweat will kick off the day of service with a presentation. Sweat is the pastor of St. James Baptist Church in Nacogdoches and served as president of the local NAACP chapter for four years. He also served in the Air Force as a photography lab specialist. He is a member of the Progressive Leadership Group and Community Improvement Program.

Congress passed legislation in 1983 to commemorate King's life as a civil rights activist. In 1994, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, which falls on the third Monday of January, was named a national day of service and is sponsored by the Corporation for National and Community Service and the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change.

For more information, contact Beavers at (936) 468-1073, email oma@sfasu.edu, or visit sfasu.edu/oma.