Township Calls on Vols for MLK Day of Service

Come one, come all—come lend a helping hand.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, which will be celebrated on Monday, Jan. 16, this year, has truly become a day for Americans to honor the late civil-rights activist by helping others.

In that spirit, Council Vice President Orlando Mercado is hopeful residents will join him, Mayor David Mayer and the rest of Council on one of five service projects he's arranged for the first-ever Gloucester Township Day of Service.

"It's an opportunity for people to get involved. It's nonpartisan. It's a chance for people to come out," he said.

Given he pitched the idea to Mayer just last week, Mercado said he'd be pleased to get 50 volunteers out for the first-year Day of Service. With a little more planning in 2013, he can envision 100 or more people coming out to lend a helping hand to mark Martin Luther King Day.

The five service projects Mercado selected for this inaugural attempt include a variety of activities that will allow for residents of all ages to participate.

The five projects are:

• Help make a total of 350 peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches for the Cathedral Kitchen in Camden
• Draw and decorate cards for military men and women who are serving overseas (kid-friendly)
• Lead or help out with a recreational activity (aerobics or Zumba) at Senior Campus I at Lakeland
• Put together boxes of food for the Living Word Bible Fellowship's Church Street food pantry
• Clean up at the Camden County Animal Shelter at Lakeland

Anyone choosing to help put together boxes for the food pantry will be asked to donate nonperishable food items, Mercado said.

The Day of Service will begin with a registration session at the senior center at the municipal complex at 9 a.m. (Those who pre-register on the township's official website can probably afford to show up around 9:15 or so. The website should be ready for pre-registration within a day or two of this article being published.)

A brief explanation session, which will include information about where the five different groups will be heading and what they'll be doing, will begin around 9:30 a.m.

Mindful that many who come out to volunteer will be attending the Gloucester Township Public Schools' sixth annual Celebration of Service ceremony at C.W. Lewis Middle School at 1 p.m., Mercado said each group will be asked to spend only about 90 minutes working on their service projects.

Volunteers will be responsible for providing their own transportation to and from both the senior center and their respective service project.