MLK Day of Service Recap

Above, Claire Gibby ’16 and Amanda Kiso ’17 help pack Buddy Packs during the 2015 MLK Day of Service at Westminster.

Westminster College President Dr. Forsythe and Missouri State Representative Travis Fitzwater joined Westminster students, faculty, and staff on Monday to celebrate MLK Day of Service on Monday, January 19. The group of nearly 200 people packed 2,104 backpacks with food, emergency preparation information, and fire safety information to help Callaway County schoolchildren. Buddy Packs is a Callaway County service that provides nutritious food packs to kids in need.

Rep. Travis Fitzwater and student Ejiroghene Ekperigin ’15

The day of service was organized by four different campus organizations/Greek chapters: Kappa Alpha Theta, Kappa Kappa Gamma, Phi Delta Theta, and Service Corps. The Westminster Office of Community Engagement and Service Learning coordinated the work, led by Kari Lenz.

“So in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., we in the Westminster community have made his holiday a day on instead of a day off for the past few years with this campus activity that keeps our local schoolchildren growing up happy and healthy,” says Lenz. “I was so happy to see nearly a quarter of the student population come out to do a little bit of service on their day off, knowing they would make a big impact on the Callaway schoolchildren’s lives.”

Dean Perry (R) making Buddy Packs with students

Regularly distributed by the Central Christian Church and the Food Bank for Central and Northeast Missouri, Buddy Packs are backpacks filled with nutritious food that students can take home over the weekend of during holiday periods to supplement their meals because there is not enough for them to eat at home. The students then bring the backpacks back to school to be refilled.

The Callaway County Emergency Management System partnered with Westminster to provide emergency information for the packs.

Tripti Giri ’15 and Jane Forsythe

Dr. Bob Hansen, Dr. Carolyn Perry, Representative Travis Fitzwater

Ade Adeyemo ’17, Pat Kirby, Scovia Aweko Gidaga ’17