(Featured photo: Augusta Mayor Garnett Johnson took part in volunteer efforts on the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. holiday Jan. 15. Charmain Z. Brackett/Augusta Good News)
Many people turned their day off into a day to give back.
On Monday, volunteers worked on a variety of projects in the area in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
The morning kicked off at the Master’s Table Soup Kitchen.
It was the second year Augusta Mayor Garnett Johnson visited the soup kitchen on MLK Day and helped serve meals.
“We call it a day of service, and I believe strongly that community is all about the sacrifice that Dr. King made so we can have equality here in this great country that we live in,” he said.
In 2023, he joined volunteers from Project Refresh, an organization that provides a mobile shower service for the homeless.
This year, it was bigger, he said. Not only did volunteers serve meals while Project Refresh assisted as people used the mobile shower unit and received clean clothes, but they were joined by dental and medical students who provided basic health and dental screenings as well as nutrition information. Also, people received gloves ahead of this week’s freezing temperatures.
“We’re really excited. We see it only continuing to grow,” said Johnson of the turnout.
The volunteer effort was capped at 30 people, and those slots filled quickly, said Johnson, who is considering how to expand it next year.
Johnson said it was important to volunteer for an organization such as the Golden Harvest Food Bank, which operates the soup kitchen, because it brings awareness to the issue of food insecurity as well as homelessness.
“One in nine adults and one in six kids are food insecure,” he said.
A few blocks over from the Fenwick Street location of the soup kitchen, another group collected food for those in need at GAP Ministries.
AmeriCorps VISTAs and about 35 members of two area chapters of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority spent several hours sorting food and stocking GAP’s food pantry. More than 1,500 pounds of food was collected on the day.
“There are over 300,000 of us who are doing MLK Day of Service,” said Bonita Jenkins, president of the Alpha Alpha Epsilon Omega chapter, of its national membership which mobilized on the day. “Today is a very special day for us because it’s Founders’ Day – 116 years.”
The Alpha Alpha Epsilon Omega chapter joined with members of the Zeta Xi Omega chapter for the volunteer day.
“We always consider MLK Day of Service as a day on not a day off,” said Cherdrina McCray, of the Zeta Xi Omega chapter, adding that the sorority’s motto “is to be in service to all mankind.”
Sorority members not only donated their time, but they collected food, and some made financial contributions as well.
Nomi Stanton, GAP Ministries executive director, said she was overwhelmed with the support.
“I have such gratitude for the community coming together. This is why I feel the CSRA is leading from the front and helping those in need whatever that means, whatever that definition is,” she said.
Another service project included beautifying a block of downtown Augusta.
In spring 2023, members of the Coalition for Action for Downtown Augusta cleaned the Washington monument at Sixth and Greene Streets and planted flowers.
On Monday, they picked up litter, refreshed the flowers and weeded the area.
Charmain Z. Brackett, the publisher of Augusta Good News and Inspiring: Women of Augusta, has covered Augusta’s news for 35 years. Reach her at charmain@augustagoodnews.com. Sign up for the newsletter here.
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