Volunteers to ‘Make Their Mark’ on MLK Day

In recognition of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, University of Tampa students will face a challenge to “make their mark” on the community.

The 11th annual Day of Service, held Jan. 19, will send approximately 125 UT students, faculty and staff to locations throughout the Tampa area to perform service as a way of giving back to the community.

This year, PEACE has partnered with five local agencies to which UT students, faculty and staff members will be sent to perform various volunteer duties.

The agencies include Lowry Park Zoo, where volunteers will help clean animal pens; Seniors in Service, through which volunteers will clean apartments at Tampa’s Jewish Center Towers; and Cracker Country, a Southern heritage museum at which volunteers will clean the museum’s buildings and grounds.

“We hope that this can serve as a first step for the volunteers toward getting involved, on their own, on a regular basis with a volunteer agency not only through UT, but the Tampa Bay community in general,” said Molly Murphy, PEACE’s student head coordinator.

Volunteers will also perform clean-up tasks with Bakas Equestrian Center as well as Keep Hillsborough County Beautiful. The latter organization recently awarded PEACE its Volunteer Organization of the Year Award.

In 2008, PEACE noted a record number of participants with approximately 100 volunteers taking part. This year, the record has already been topped, with about 125 registered for the Day of Service thus far, Murphy said.

For more information on the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service or any of PEACE’s service projects, e-mail peace@ut.edu or visit their Web page.