Accepting the

MLK Challenge
By Caroline Monday
cmonday@mountaintimes.com

Many across the nation enjoyed a day off from school and work on Monday, Jan. 21, in recognition of the birthday of civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr.

About 200 Appalachian State University students and staff, however, decided to participate in the ninth annual MLK Challenge and have “a day on, not a day off.”

The MLK Challenge is an event hosted by ASU's Appalachian and the Community Together (ACT) office and held each January on the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.

The event challenges participants to work with local nonprofit agencies to complete community service projects throughout the area. This year, 17 groups worked to complete projects that ranged from construction and remodeling to raising awareness about an agency's mission. Groups worked with organizations, such as the Children’s Playhouse, the Humane Society, Blue Ridge Wildlife Institute, Hospitality House, OASIS, Western Youth Network, Hospice and Mountain Alliance.

One group was charged with a unique challenge: committing 20,000 random acts of kindness. Kara Brown, a member of the impACT Team, the undergraduate group that annually organizes the MLK Challenge and other ACT events, said this task fell into place at the last minute and highlights that their are opportunities to serve the community independent of existing charitable causes.

The group was given some examples of acts of kindness that included a challenge to pick up 10,000 cigarette butts.

All of the participants were charged with a bonus challenge in addition to their individual group challenges.

The bonus challenge was to collect money to contribute to a scholarship established in honor of Leigh Lane Edwards, an ASU student who was committed to local and international service and who died several years ago. The scholarship will help students fund international service opportunities.

This year, each group was given $75 to fund their project. Brown told them that they might find that their project required more than that amount, or it might require less, or none at all. A group that did not need the money could give it to a group that did. Participants were also allowed to solicit donations from local businesses, such as construction materials, for example, to be used to help complete their project.

Participants were randomly assigned to groups, which were often comprised of people they do not already know. Each group had one or two ASU staffers as group leaders. Participants also do not know what their assignments for the day will be until the morning of the challenge.

The ACT office finds projects for the day of service by soliciting community organizations. Kendra Johnson, an impACT Team member, said the ACT office keeps a database of local agencies that organizers use to contact groups that might be interested in hosting a group for the day. She said many organizations have come to anticipate the day and often host teams each year.

Wanda Gragg, manager at the Watauga Humane Society's Bare Bones Boutique, put participants to work cleaning and organizing the thrift shop's storage barn. She said the large task was one that would have been nearly impossible for shop's regular volunteers. She pointed out that the group's work not only helped the boutique, but also the animals that the store raises money to support.

Joel Barricklow, Mountain Alliance's program director, said that, in addition helping the organization complete a project, the volunteers learn about and often become interested in the organization. He said one student, on Monday, had already expressed interest in becoming further involved in Mountain Alliance's work. “All these people now know what Mountain Alliance does,” he said.

All of the day's work is done in honor of Martin Luther King Jr., a man who committed his life to improving the lives of others. Johnson said the challenge is a way for participants to remember King and his mission. “It gives us another opportunity to do service and in our community and to be involved.”

“I think it gives students an opportunity to really feel connected to the community,” Brown added.

Brooke Loftis, a challenge participant and a student at ASU, said the day reminds her that “I should serve others as an example of what Martin Luther King [Jr.] did every day.”