Volunteers from City Year Detroit help give the halls of Osborn High School a new coat of paint as part of a service day to honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
City Year and United Way celebrated the 25th anniversary of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday by having their 10th annual MLK Service Day on Monday in Detroit.
Beautifying schools, building house frames for future Detroit homes, tearing down abandoned homes, cleaning up neighborhoods, and painting existing houses were all on the agenda for this year’s service day.
The event, one of several including an event for younger kids at Don Bosco Hall in the Cody-Rouge neighborhood of Detroit (see the story by clicking here), kicked off with a rally at Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Michigan, which sponsored the rally in part with Allstate and Bank of America. William Toples, Director of Community Responsibility for Blue Cross, made opening remarks.
“This is a day of service for those united,” says Toples “This truly is a day on not a day off.”
Murals were created to beautify the halls of Osborn High School Monday, Jan. 17.
Also speaking at the rally were Tiffany Douglas, Market Manager for Bank of America, and State Rep. Hansen Clarke. City Year gave out its signature red jackets to the speakers, the highest honor in the organization.
Dr. Daniel Little, chairman of the City Year Detroit Board and chancellor of University of Michigan-Dearborn, also attended this event.
“I feel most at home, here of service, on this day,” he said.
Clarke spoke on how to improve the neighborhoods through City Year.
“I am not speaking from a speech. I am speaking from my mind and from my heart,” Clarke said. “You’re giving people the power to recognize the ability behind themselves.”
City Year Corps Members on the Personal Training Team known as “PT” performed their daily drills for the audience and had them participate in one of their drills.
Penny Bailer, Executive Director of City Year Detroit, ended the rally with an excited thank you to the crowd.
“This is the largest crowd we’ve ever had on MLK Day,” Bailer said. “Sadly, Martin left us at the age of 39. He would be 82. Just think what he could have done in those 43 years!”
After the rally, volunteers and City Year Corps went to their designated sites to start their afternoon serving the community.
Groups were split into different sites across the city, including Blight Busters, Cody High School, Downriver CARES at Ralph J. Bunche Academy, Grace Centers of Hope, Habitat for Humanity, Kiwanis, Books for Kids, Osborn High School, Warren E. Bow Elementary and Middle School and Vista Maria.
Paquenia Suggs joined in. She is a City Year staff member and manager of City Heroes and Young Heroes, which are service-based learning programs aimed at high school and middle school students.
“I wanted to work with youth and give back to my community,” she said.
Osborn High School was one of the sites where volunteers worked as part of the event. People all over the Osborn community came out to help the school. They left a surprise for the students who returned to school the next day by redecorating the inside of the school with a fresh coat of paint and some inspiration phrases.
This is the second year City Year has been at Osborn High School, project leader Chelsea Wojes said.
United Way volunteers paint inspirational quotes on to lockers at Osborn High School.
Bridgette Chang, a student of Osborn Preparatory College Academy, shared how she felt about the new decorations in her school.
“The words on our lockers mean a lot and it helps remind us every day, so I find the decorations very nice,” Chang said.
