MLK Jr. Day of Service Gets Lots of Helping Hands in Stone Mountain

by Candace Wheeler

More than one hundred volunteers braved the cold Monday morning to participate in the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service sponsored by Hands on Atlanta. Stone Mountain residents arrived at 9 a.m. to work on projects at both and .

Both projects were a part of Hands on Atlanta’s 17th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service. The day is expected to bring 3,000 volunteers out across Atlanta whose work will amount to over 10,000 hours of community service. The day of service also marks the inauguration year of Hands on Atlanta’s Civic Leadership Program, a grant competition for civic leaders to use volunteer-driven initiatives to help reduce local poverty

Volunteers at helped to build and install work benches and spread pine straw around the grounds as part of a campus beautification effort. The project brought out 30-plus volunteers, including the Zeta Phi Beta sorority youth group, Zeta Archonettes.

Youth advisor to the Zeta Archonettes, Violet Adams, believes volunteering for MLK day is important not just to “honor a great man”, but also for teaching the nine girls she brought with her, “As young black females it’s important that this day becomes a part of their psyche, so that when they have children they can pass this onto them,” said Adams. “On future MLK holidays if they are not doing something, it should bother them.”

The remaining volunteers at were parents of students and local residents.

At school a different sort of campus beautification project was underway. More than 70 volunteers showed up to paint several murals within the school. Under the direction of Allgood’s art teacher Lisa Kemp, principal Dr. Angela Strozier and Hands On Atlanta project coordinator Julia Bunch, volunteers painted hallway murals that included a meadow, ocean waves, stars and a tree in front of the school library. Volunteers also added a touch of color to the school’s art room and helped to put down pine straw and pick up trash on the campus grounds.

The mural project, which has been in the works since late September, called for a minimum of 65 volunteers. Principal Dr. Strozier was warmed by the immense turnout, “This is our first year being selected for the service learning project and we are just so thankful to have had this many volunteers show up.”

volunteers included parents, teachers and a group organized by Suntrust bank.