By Nadia Smith
Packing food, sorting medical supplies, and painting murals are a few of the ways Trevecca students gave back to the community on Saturday.
Around 15 Trevecca students joined 300 Nashville-area college students to work in the community at the MLK Day of Service which is a joint effort by universities such as Trevecca, Belmont, and Vanderbilt to encourage college students to serve in honor of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
This was the first time several universities came together to serve the community.
Jamie Casler, Director, J. V. Morsch Center for Social Justice, heard about the event and wanted to get Trevecca invovled.
“One of the roles of the Center for Social Justice is to provide opportunities for students to engage in acts of service in the Nashville community,” said Casler, “Through this partnership in service, our students were reminded that we are part of a bigger redemptive story.”
Trevecca freshman, Kristen Mannan, was one of 15 Trevecca students who participated in the event. She spent her day painting at McKissack Middle School.
Students were divided into several groups with each one performing a different
job. The groups helped paint McKissack Middle School, sort food at Second Harvest Food Bank, and paint a mural at Hadley Park Community Center. Some groups spent time sorting medical supplies at Project C.U.R.E., and helping the Christian
Women’s Job Corps of Middle Tennessee move to their new location.
“I thought it would be a really great opportunity to serve other people and just get out in
the community and do something,” said Mannan.
For Trevecca senior Tiffany Bell, getting involved in the day of service was a way to
continue on what Martin Luther King once did for the country.
“I did a project on Martin Luther King back in high school and I just fell in love with what he
did,” said Bell. “I think he is a pretty cool man and he did a lot of really great things for this
country.”
Bell was part of the group of students who helped to organize between 7,000 and 9,000
pounds of food for different families across Tennessee.
It was hard work, but it was worth it, she said.
“To lead is to serve so if you want to lead people you need to serve them first,” Bell said.
