Penn State campuses partner on 马丁路德•金纪念日 service projects

伊利,爸爸. — It takes maybe 90 minutes to properly clean an old bicycle. Margarita Dangel, a site director for the Sisters of St. Joseph Neighborhood Network, st艺术 with the chain, and then the derailleur. Those gunk up if the bike has been idle.

Dangel has 170 bicycles in the back of a small warehouse on Erie’s east side. She donates them to neighborhood kids, or to immigrants who move to Erie with help from the U.S. 难民委员会.

“In this neighborhood, a lot of people do not have access to transportation,” she said. “A bike can make their lives much easier.”

She oils chains and tightens brake cables. 她给轮胎打气. 她甚至把支架都擦亮了.

一月星期一. 15 -国家马丁·路德·金. 一天 of Service — she had help: four students and a staff member from Penn State, which encourages its students to observe the 马丁·路德·金. holiday by volunteering for service.

增加他们的影响力, the University’s western campuses — Behrend, 海狸, 杜波依斯, 菲也特, 更大的阿勒格尼, 新肯辛顿 and Shenango — partner for service projects, saturating a community near one of the campuses with students who are willing to work. This year, 50 students came to Erie.

“The community approach is a core element of our program,克里斯·福克斯说, assistant director of civic engagement at Penn State Behrend. “When you contribute to something that is bigger than your club, 或者你的校园, it makes the larger community you are a part of feel real and tangible.”

ServErie, a network of Erie churches, helped select this year’s work sites. The students sorted winter coats at the Upper Room, a homeless shelter; created bulletin boards at the Bethesda Trinity Center; and played bingo with residents of the 宾西法尼亚 Soldiers’ and Sailors’ 首页, a 207-bed retirement center that opened in 1886.

Amanda Green, a psychology major at Penn State Behrend, volunteered at the Sisters of St. 约瑟夫自行车店. Her bike had pink-and-white streamers dangling from banana handlebars.

“我来自伊利，”她说. “I’m familiar with some of these organizations, so I know they do good work. It’s nice to be part of that, and not just driving past.”

奥斯汀Bixler, a communications major at Penn State 菲也特, 埃伯利校区, helped paint the hallways at the Lodge on Sass, a shelter that provides transitional housing for more than 2,每年有1000人.

“A lot of people don’t really have a choice when they come to a place like this,” Bixler said. “你的人生拐错了弯, and you don’t even know you’re taking it, and suddenly you’re out of choices. The same thing can happen to you or me. 我在做我的选择. 我在传递爱.”

马库斯•阿特金森, the executive director of ServErie, had offered a similar message that morning, when he addressed the students before they traveled to their work sites. He had talked about King and his legacy of service.

“The best life is a life lived for others,” he said. “为他人服务. 为梦想服务. 不是出于义务, 或者是因为你需要贷款, 或者是因为你有麻烦了, but because it is the right thing to do. In time, that will come back to you.”