Many volunteer, some turned away on day of service

Ohio State students celebrated Martin Luther King Jr. Day with community service Monday. OSU’s Students Engaging in Responsible Volunteering Team organized the ninth annual MLK Day of Service. Students were able to volunteer with various organizations to honor King’s legacy at the event.

Participants volunteered at community service sites around Columbus including COSI, the Columbus Metropolitan Library and local health care centers.

“Volunteers will be engaging in all sorts of activities including cleaning, interacting with children and adults with special needs, cooking breakfast and painting buildings for renovation,” said Ravi Gupta, a planner for the event.

The students also volunteered at Habitat for Humanity. They worked at the organization’s home improvement store that uses its proceeds to build homes in Columbus.

“We operate on volunteer support,” said Katie Ramunni, AmeriCorps VISTA Community Resource coordinator at Habitat for Humanity. “All the proceeds of the sold items cover Habitat for Humanity administrative costs and all of the money will go to building homes in Franklin County.”

The students were able to volunteer for at least two hours at each service site. Sean Kernan, a fourth-year in chemical engineering and marketing chair for SERVTeam, said he’s involved with the event because he wants to help the community.

“We are honoring Martin Luther King Jr. by lending a helping hand to our neighbors,” Kernan said. “We do this not only for ourselves, but for our friends, neighbors and the future inhabitants of the world, just like Dr. King had hoped for.”

Although classes were canceled on campus, the event attracted hundreds of students. In fact, the motto of the MLK Day of Service is “Make it a day on, not a day off.”

Ryan Slaughter, a fourth-year in crop science and co-chair coordinator of the event, said the event was so popular that there was not enough room for all the interested students to volunteer last year. SERVTeam created more volunteer opportunities to accommodate those who want to honor King’s legacy with community service this year, he said.

However, there were still students who were turned away.

“We are a group of people made up of all races working together for one purpose, to serve other community members who may be in less fortunate situations than our own,” Slaughter said. “I think this is what Martin Luther King Jr. worked towards.”