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Ben Katz, 22, from Macon, along with other community volunteers, helps clear debris from Gospel Pilgrim Cemetery on MLK day.

MLK Jr. day used for service

'A day on, not off' for many

By: MIMI ENSLEY

Posted: 1/20/09

Over 700 volunteers united forces Monday to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr.'s legacy as a part of Hands on Northeast Georgia's day of service.

At 25 project sites, teams of girl scouts, University students and Athens residents left warm beds behind as they faced near freezing temperatures to give back to the community on what project leaders called "a day on, not a day off."

The day was especially relevant to some who saw direct ties between Martin Luther King's message and Barack Obama's inauguration on Tuesday.

"You see a start with Martin Luther King that's greatly progressed up to this point," said Patrick Dever, a junior from Atlanta.

At Barrow Elementary School, volunteers combined their Martin Luther King service project with efforts to prepare for the school's inauguration celebration.

While some groups hauled mulch, pulled weeds and built a sandbox for the school's Pre-K, others hung red, white and blue streamers from classroom doors.

"The connection [between Martin Luther King and Barack Obama] speaks for itself," said Emily Baggett, as she reached up to secure some patriotic ornaments. Baggett, a junior from Warner Robbins, volunteered with her fraternity, Phi Sigma Pi.

Other University groups also participated in the day's activities. Gospel Pilgrim Cemetery was just one of the sites that attracted University students. Representatives from both the University's Horticulture Club and Terry College's Leonard Leadership Scholars Program helped clear wisteria, English ivy and privet from the severely overgrown site.

From the time it was founded in 1882, the Gospel Pilgrim Cemetery was "the

place to be buried" for African Americans, said Gail Tarver, the site's project coordinator. Though it was abandoned in the 1970s, the East Athens Development Corporation now works to restore thesite, where nearly 4,000 graves sprawl across eight acres.

Winston Heard, executive director of the EADC, commended the volunteers for their service.

"We're doing our part in joining in on the celebration," Heard said. "If we're going to affect change, we have to do it not as individuals, but as a community."

Volunteers ate breakfast together before heading out to clear a plot of land at the cemetery.

The day of service ended with lunch and a celebration at the Lyndon House Arts Center. Participants ate together, heard speakers and listened to music. They could also peruse the "Visions of a Dream" art exhibit.

The celebration also served as the kick-off for the "Seat for Social Justice" art project, an endeavor to memorialize civil rights leaders. The project combines the reactions community members have after reading various quotes by Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks. Artists then use those reactions as inspiration for a creative work utilizing two salvaged school bus benches.