Students, inspired by King, help area

In the spirit of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, students from several University service organizations will volunteer to help the State College community from 3 to 6 p.m. today.

"Community service and helping others was such a big concept for Martin Luther King," said Melissa Frank-Alston, director of Lions SHARE. "This will be an important service project during the month (of his birth)."

Lions SHARE sponsors an event called "Into the Streets" every month. The event allows students to help the community by serving food at shelters or cleaning up litter. The event today, the first of its kind, is similar to "Into the Streets," but with the twist of commemorating and following King's principles.

King is celebrated as a nonviolent civil rights leader; his birthday is commemorated nationally in January.

"It sounded like a really cool thing to participate in," said Andrea Lang, service chair of Phi Lambda Sigma, a service sorority. "We voted unanimously to participate."

More than triple the amount of students that were needed signed up to join the three endeavors. Those students will participate in the following:

• At the community center at East View Terrace on campus, students will build a Chinese dragon to help celebrate the Chinese New Year. The dragon will be used in a parade through University Apartments on campus at 5 p.m. on Feb. 7.
  

• At the State College Area Food Bank, 208 W. Foster Ave., students will sort food.
  

• At the Centre County Women's Resource Center, 140 Nittany Ave., students will clean up the garage area.
  

  Students can find out more about getting involved around the community by attending the Student Volunteer Fair from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. today in the HUB Ballroom.