Carbondale community participates in Martin Luther King Day of Service
January 23, 2021
In honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, SIU students spent the day helping community organizations on Jan. 23 by participating in a day of service.
The Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service was created to honor the memory of Martin Luther King Jr. and all that he sacrificed for his community. It gives students and members of the Carbondale community a chance to give back to local organizations.
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The students were given three options on how they wanted to give back to their community by working with Keep Carbondale Beautiful. Either cleaning up Attucks Park, cleaning and painting the Eurma C. Hayes Center or by helping plant bulbs and paint a mural with the Boys and Girls Clubs of Southern Illinois.
To contain the spread of COVID-19, each group was only allowed nine volunteers in order to maintain social distancing rules.
Eurma C. Hayes Center (pictured) is located at 441 E Willow St, Carbondale, Ill. Although it is in need of repairs after years of being exposed to the elements, the new executive director, Bob Wills believes, with the help of his new board, they can help the center become the “hub of activity” that it used to be, The Southern reported.
In its heyday, the Eurma C. Hayes Center had a daycare, medical clinic and a literacy program.
It was built in 1973 to provide services to Carbondale where Black locals were segregated, The Southern reported. In 2010, the programs stopped and it was sold for $10 and thus became the Eurma C. Hayes Center.
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