Students honor King through Day of Service

By Carrie Thorson

Daily Staff Reporter

DETROIT - LSA senior Dana Aronson spent her day off yesterday demolishing and cleaning up an abandoned crackhouse.

"There's so many people out studying, and that's not the point of today," Aronson said. "The point is to go out and do something."

Other students who traveled to the run-down neighborhood in Detroit cheerfully worked all afternoon shoveling the remains of the house away. They donned surgical masks to protect themselves from the debris of the demolished dwelling and readily lifted jagged sections of walls, complete with electric fixtures, into massive dumpsters.

"Really, it's fun," said Engineering sophomore Sheila Rajan as she climbed down from a seven-foot-high Dumpster.

"I've never done anything like this before," Rajan added. "It's so awesome to be a part of it."

The rain and snow did not stop LSA sophomore Garry Boyd. "I could be cleaning up a pile of poop and I wouldn't mind," Boyd said. "I know it would be for a good cause." Aronson, Rajan and Boyd were part of about 200 students who participated in "Acting on the Dream." Participants divided between 22 volunteer sites located from Ann Arbor to Detroit, and activities ranged from sorting food for the homeless to playing Bingo with the elderly. Those who tore the house down volunteered with Motor City Blight Busters.

Project SERVE began the MLK Day of Service six years ago after hearing a speech from Coretta Scott King.

"She told us that if you want to honor Dr. King, you need to be out doing service," Project SERVE director Anita Bohn said. "We call this program 'Acting on the Dream' because it fits with the work that Dr. King wanted us to do." Bohn opened the day of service by encouraging participants to not only work on King's dream, but also their own dreams.

"The whole idea behind one day service projects is to spark the interest in community service," said LSA senior Shelly Hundiwal, one of the project coordinators. "This gets the ball rolling because they get to meet people and have fun and do community service," she added.

"This has definitely inspired me to do more service like this," said LSA senior Pradeep Naga.

Other students had prior experience with community service before participating in "Acting on a Dream."

"My sorority always does community service like this," said LSA junior Natalie Stegall. "It's so rewarding seeing everyone work together."

JOYCE LEE/Daily

LSA junior Natalie Stegall, Nursing junior Regina Cox and RC sophomore Megan Douglass throw woodchips on the ground in Detroit as a part of the MLK Day of Service.