January 16, 2012 marked the 26th annual Martin Luther King Jr. federal holiday and 189 University of Northern Iowa students honored King's life through service at the Catholic Worker House, Northeast Iowa Food Bank, Cedar Valley Hospitality House, Grout Museum District, Stork’s Nest, Green Iowa AmeriCorps, Angel House and Country View. Students began the day meeting on campus where UNI Provost Gloria Gibson spoke to the students before they parted ways to begin their service, emphasizing the meaning of service in King's name. She said the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday has always been "a day on, not a day off."
The UNI students were coordinated by the Volunteer Center of Cedar Valley in partnership with UNI’s Student Leadership Center, which also sponsors UNI's "Volunteer Tuesdays" program. Lauren Finke, Executive Director of VCCV, said “it's the third year of MLK Day of Service activities on campus and they quickly surpassed the initial limit of 125 students.” With assistance from on-campus resources, additional service locations were quickly arranged for the remainder of the students.
The economic impact of the volunteer hours the participants put in was great. According to Finke, each volunteer hour put in by an individual student was worth $21.36 (using national data) in labor costs. At about two full volunteer hours per student, the estimated money saved by the local agencies involved with the Day of Service was approximately $8,000.
“This day of service exceeded our expectations and planning will begin shortly for next year’s celebration,” says Finke. Any agency interested in hosting a group of UNI students for future days of service should contact the VCCV at Lauren_Finke@vccv.org for additional information and to make arrangements.
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