While Martin Luther King Jr. Day is already celebrated across the country as a national day of service, this year Johns Hopkins is offering its own bonus opportunity for more than 500 volunteers in Baltimore and D.C.
The volunteers are needed Friday, Jan. 26, for serving meals, tutoring, painting murals, landscaping, and various other service activities across the region as part of the inaugural Johns Hopkins MLK Day of Service.
Spots (register here) are already filling up quickly for the event, which aims to connect 519 volunteers from Hopkins—staff, faculty, and students—with 18 local community organizations and nonprofits. Participants include the Living Classrooms Foundation, Patterson Park Public Charter School, the Helping Up Mission, the 6th Branch, and DC Central Kitchen, among others (full list here).
For many Hopkins staffers, that Friday is a regular workday, meaning arrangements with supervisors will be necessary to take time off. But the activities do qualify for the Johns Hopkins Takes Time for Baltimore program, which allows university employees to use two paid workdays each year for community service.
"The MLK Day of Service is such a wonderful way to start a new year and connect university faculty and staff with volunteer activities offered by Johns Hopkins Takes Time for Baltimore," says Heidi Conway, JHU's vice president for human resources. "The collective impact is inspiring."
The service day was organized by the Johns Hopkins Medicine Office of Diversity and Inclusion, along with the Johns Hopkins Office of Work, Life and Engagement.
For some volunteer destinations, transportation will be available from the East Baltimore campus, with additional details sent following registration.
For further questions or information on the event, email Diversity@jhmi.edu.
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