UofL, IU Southeast students spend Martin Luther King holiday serving their communities

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) - For thousands across America, the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday has become a day of service.

University of Louisville and Indiana University Southeast students carried out that mission Monday at various organizations across Louisville and southern Indiana.

“Service is a really big part of my life,” UofL Junior Brianna Williams said. “I wanted to have a significant impact n the the community and I wanted it to be continuous.”

Williams and her classmates spent Monday helping The Hope Buss with cleaning, organizing and other tasks.

The Hope Buss is a nonprofit organization “focused on empowering families and individuals to reimagine our community, by working alongside them to build HOPE-based infrastructure and create sustainable resources.”

Williams said she volunteers there often, and is happy her contributions have been making a difference.

“This is a houseless population, but even so, this is a place where they can stay, a place that they can call home until they have another place,” Williams said. “And so, organizations like this, they need as much help as possible. So with me coming every single day and doing my part, I think that that makes a difference as well.”

IU Southeast students spent their MLK day of service spread among five locations.

Several spent time cleaning and organizing the upstairs office of Our Place, a nonprofit organization committed to helping people with addiction.

“I think it’s important to make the community come together a little bit more, you know, get the word out about what Martin Luther King wanted and get everybody together,” IUS junior Kamari Marsh said.

Others, like members of Kappa Sigma fraternity, helped clean out parts of IUS’ facilities room.

“Martin Luther King Jr. talked a lot about equality, doing service to your community, which brings people together, so that’s what we’re doing here today,” Nate Wood said.

These students’ acts of service and kindness were small parts of America’s nationwide goal to give back and celebrate the man who, one day hoped, everyone would walk together as equals.

“I think the bottom line, for me, what it means, if you think about what this day is supposed to stand for, what this man stood for, right, is that if we all saw each other as equals, we came together, we helped each other we all get better,” Our Place Executive Director MaryBeth Adams-Wolf.

For more information on The Hope Buss, click here.

For more information on Our Place, click here.

Both organizations are looking for volunteers.

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