Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Serve-A-Thon
Posted by Max Pomeranc on Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Yesterday in New York City, over twenty volunteers gathered to participate in a day of service to honor the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The event, which was funded in part by No Kid Hungry, was focused on raising awareness about school breakfast.
Here in New York City, the Department of Education runs a universal free breakfast program. This means that every single one of its one million students is eligible for a free breakfast. Unfortunately, less than 25 percent of students actually participate in this great program. With over 450,000 kids in New York City living in food insecure homes this number is unacceptably low.
Yesterday’s Serve-A-Thon brought together partners from the public, private and nonprofit sectors to raise awareness about this important program. From 11:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. volunteers participated in a phone bank – calling homes across all five boroughs, providing the families they spoke with information about the city’s free breakfast program.
The event was put together by our partner the New York City Coalition Against Hunger and was held at the offices of the United Federation of Teachers. The day got off to a great start when NYC Councilman Robert Jackson showed up to give a pep talk to the first shift of volunteers. Councilman Jackson, who is the Chairman of the City Council’s Education Committee, was not just there to give a speech, but also joined our volunteers in making calls.
Over the course of the day, volunteers made thousands of phone calls, reaching families in all five boroughs. The message was simple – breakfast in New York City is free and available every single school day for every single student.
The event was a great success, but is just one part of our multifaceted campaign. If you are interested in participating in any future events here in New York City, contact me at mpomeranc@strength.org.
January 17, 2012 | 0 comment(s) | Tags: Martin Luther King, no kid hungry, service day
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