Spring 2010 - La Puente Home

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A Day On, Not a Day Off Sarah Elsey, Volunteer Coordination Volunteer In 1994, Congress initiated King Day of Service, a day Americans are asked to transform the federal holiday honoring Dr. King’s words and actions into a national day of community service. In 2009, more than 1 million volunteers participated in 13,000 projects across the country. Throughout college this was a service project I always looked forward to doing after returning from Christmas break. This year, I was anxious to see how this day would be celebrated in my new community in comparison to my experiences at an urban college. Upon returning from holiday break this December, there was a message in my email inbox from Circle K, an international service, fellowship, and leadership club at Adams State College (ASC), stating their interest in partnering with La Puente for an MLK Jr. service project! My fellow AmeriCorps members and I felt unsure if we should take OFF from our current volunteer positions at La Puente to do something ON for this national day of service. I wanted to do Alamosa resident enjoying one of the new benches located on the south side of Milagros Coffee Shop. Page 8 a new and creative service project for the City of Alamosa that would not only be seen by the entire community, but also honor of Dr. King’s life work. Early in my brainstorming stage I thought back to what projects I had done in the past to celebrate this day. I remembered a unique project started by United Way Capital Area called ‘Peace Benches.’ It was initially hard for some in my organization to see why building benches for people to sit on would be considered service. Generally our service projects The Voice of La Puente
consist of cooking a community meal at our shelter, helping sort donations at Rainbow’s End Thrift stores, or cleaning houses with our Adelante Program. However, I believe service can be as simple as making others aware of an issue at hand. After some more discussion, our project was underway. The painting on the back board of the bench is a landscape made up of a portrait of Dr. King, a river and a crop field with farm workers, serving as a reminder for his dream for a nation of equality, freedom and justice for all. Something I think we all too often forget. With support from ASC, Habitat for Humanity and local artist David Montgomery, we were able to build and paint four park ‘Peace Benches’ to be placed at Milagros Coffeehouse, Colorado Welcome Center, Rainbow’s End Thrift Store and Adams State College. This year’s Day of Service was especially timely to the disastrous earthquake in Haiti and I am proud of all the support the United States has shown. Although the Peace Bench project did not offer relief to the Haiti victims, we can use this event as a reminder that we don’t need something as devastating as an earthquake to start serving. Dr. King stood for service. Let’s honor those hurt in everyday disasters by helping in our own communities. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.-Martin Luther King Jr. Page 9
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Page 3 and 4: Haiti Parallels Lance Cheslock, La
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Page 25 and 26: Nicole Bontrager Sally Sheehan Just
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Page 29 and 30: Stretching your Donation Understand
Page 31 and 32: Night and Day The Teacher sat aroun

Spring 2010 - La Puente Home

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