MCC-Maple Woods students, faculty and staff get busy, dirty during “A Day On”

Crafting, cleaning, cooking, painting – faces and walls – and organizing were all a part of the amazing effort put forth by MCC-Maple Woods students, staff, faculty and administrators during MCC’s MLK Day of Service 2011.

More than 50 volunteers took to the Northland with six service projects to keep everyone busy.

The Student Center was home to craft central, where volunteers made fleece blankets and photo frames for the Northland Children’s Mercy residents. Several volunteers organized and helped unload items at Hillcrest Thrift Store, working the loading docks and helping to tag clothing and organize the larger items. The Hillcrest Transitional Housing facility in Liberty, Mo., got a fresh coat of paint and the food pantry at St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church got scrubbed, stocked and organized. Students and staff hosted a carnival for residents of the Heritage Village Assisted Living facility – this is where the face/head painting comes in – and a another group hosted a lunch for residents at one of Synergy’s safe houses for victims of domestic violence.

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What does community service mean to you?

It was a simple question posed by Kim Prosak, MCC-Longview's campus life and leadership coordinator, at the MLK Day of Service event on campus.

But the shocking truth is that community service meant so many different things to the 100 or so that had gathered to turn MLK Day into a day on rather than a day off.

Each person was asked to write down, sketch out or create that it meant to them. For each person who answered there was a different view, a different take and a different bit of artistic flare that proved to be a moving and colorful experience for everyone who participated.

For more photos from the MCC-Longview MLK Day of Service, check out our photo blog over on Flickr. 

A Day "On" for MCC-Blue River

Yesterday, MCC-Blue River joined thousands across the nation to celebrate the MLK holiday with service.

A group of students, staff and faculty joined Blue River’s Campus Life & Leadership Coordinator, Amy Slater, in volunteering at the Rainbow Center, Hillcrest Transitional Housing, and the Community Service League in Eastern Jackson County.

During the Blue River Inservice, Amy reported that the team did everything from placing clothing on hangers to shoveling snow.

Panera Bread and Lamar’s donuts supported the volunteers with kind donations of food and refreshments.

The Examiner covered the team’s efforts in yesterday's edition . Read the article here.

“Retirees also joined in” joked Blue River’s Barb Schaefer during Inservice. She and a group of volunteers created fleece blankets and donated them to Children’s Mercy Hospital as their act of service. They created 21blankets and Schaefer went on to praise their generosity as well as those that supplied materials.

MCC's MLK Day of Service embodies our mission to serve (and thank) communities

As volunteers at MCC-Longview gathered in the early morning of last year’s MLK Day of Service, they were asked one question: Who would they thank for making a difference?

Who, to them, made the biggest difference in their life?  It was a simple question that yielded as many different answers as there were people in the room.

It was a chance for the 150 or so gathered that morning to reflect not only on the great accomplishments and service of Martin Luther King Jr., but also that of countless others that had influenced their lives in way both big and small.

At the MCC-Longview MLK Day of service, organizers not only want volunteers to focus on helping their fellow community members, but also want to give them a chance to reflect on how those organizations and institutions are helping them and the greater metropolitan area.

 "It is so important for the students, faculty, staff and administrators to come together to give back to the community,” said Kim Prosak. campus life and leadership coordinator at MCC-Longview. “It not only helps kids, senior citizens and organizations in the MCC- Longview service area, but it also does so much for the MCC-Longview community itself.

This year the scope of that focus is even wider as more volunteers have signed up to once again spend their day off volunteering and working with some of Lee’s Summits most notable charities and not-for-profit organizations.

As last year’s volunteers prepared to work for the day at various locations around the city, they took with them the pink index card where they wrote down who they would thank. Those cards, Prosak said, would be a reminder that someone helped them along when they needed it most and it was time to return the favor.

“It is so rewarding to see everyone work side by side for the greater good," she said.

It is not too late to sign up!

Go to www.mcckc.edu/mlk to sign up for a service project.

Join your fellow faculty, staff and students for this great event

MCC-Blue River - National Day of Service

MCC-Blue River is preparing for it’s second annual Day of Service to commemorate the national Martin Luther King holiday officially observed on Monday, January 17.

This is an amazing opportunity to celebrate the holiday with your heart.

Next Monday, MCC-Blue River Students and employees will volunteer at the following local nonprofit organizations: Hillcrest Transitional Housing, Community Service League and the Rainbow Center.

Other Blue River MLK service opportunities are also available, including making quilts for Children’s Mercy Hospital. To participate in this activity, contact Barbara Shaefer via email Barbara Schaefer or by telephone at 816.604.6568.

If you’re interested in working with the nonprofit organizations listed above, contact Amy Slater in the Arts and Sciences building, room 113: or you may call her directly at 816.604.6635.

Maple Woods lives the MCC mission through charity and service

Preparing students, serving communities, creating opportunities. Those six words comprise MCC’s mission statement as it strives to educate more and more students in the Kansas City Metro area. The holiday season and new year afforded many challenges and opportunities to live MCC’s mission statement, and Maple Woods stepped up to the plate this year, with faculty, staff and students getting involved in the Northland.

Each year, MCC-Maple Woods adopts several students and their families for the holidays, providing food and gift items. This year, the campus was able to provide holiday trimmings for five students and their families, including two bags of groceries, three large boxes of gifts and wrapping supplies, and about $130 in gift cards. Maple Woods employees went above and beyond this year, providing enough gift cards and donations to adopt another 3 families in addition to the others. The number of students the campus has been able to adopt has gone up each of the last three years, even though financial situations have been tough.

MCC-Maple Woods students took the lead in several projects serving the Northland community – from picking up trash to volunteering at neighborhood charity organizations to supporting other students and their families.

Members of the women’s soccer team, along with the Northland Sports Alliance, participated in the BackSnack program just before the holidays as well. The program provides backpacks full of food to students who qualify for the free and reduced lunches offered by the school districts. Soccer team members helped Harvesters pack donated backpacks full of food to distribute to children at risk of going hungry.

Students became involved in community projects even in spite of rough weather conditions: Alice Zvacek, Samantha Nolker, Kayla Fleshman and Steve Barber, all members of the Upsilon Xi chapter of Phi Theta Kappa, the national honor society for two-year institutions, braved icy cold weather to clean up trash on Highway 152 near the campus.

Along with the students, MCC-Maple Woods employees are undertaking the challenge to support local organizations. The Maple Woods Fitness Center has held several “boot camp” fundraisers throughout the semester to benefit local organizations such as the Northland Therapeutic Riding Center, Synergy Services, and the United Way. Boot camps were also held to raise cash for causes including breast cancer awareness, child abuse prevention and the Special Olympics.

In addition to campus-wide, group and individual efforts throughout the last semester, MCC-Maple Woods students and employees will once again participate in the MLK Day of Service on Jan. 17, 2011. Maple Woods continues to live MCC’s mission by preparing students, both civically and academically, serving communities through hard work and creating opportunities for Northland families and organizations.

Sign up for the MLK Day of Service: Jan. 17.

PLEASE encourage students to sign up NOW.

  Sign up before Finals begin!

MCC is carrying on the tradition and having our second Martin Luther King Jr. (MLK) Day of Service! This is a day for faculty, staff, students and administrators to come together to give back to our community. Please encourage students to participate.

Monday, Jan. 17

^{8:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.}

^{We begin the day with an opening ceremony at MCC-Longview’s Education Center.}

^{Note: Jan. 17 MCC is closed.}

^{This event occurs BEFORE the spring semester begins.}

We have a NEW online sign-up designed for MLK Day of Service.

1)      Go to www.mcckc.edu/mlk to sign up NOW.

All the different service projects are listed online.

2)      Choose a campus

3)      Choose your service project

3) Fill out your information

4) Print and turn in the Travel & Photo waivers to the

Campus Life and Leadership Office (CC, 253)