South Philadelphia Elementary Students Spend MLK Day Doing Selfless Acts
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Inspired by the words and actions of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., students and staff at one South Philadelphia school spent their day off paying it forward.
More than 100 volunteers gathered on this day of service, all to make their school better.
The time is always right to do right.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said that.
And on this day of service, for the Jackson School, the time to do right was exactly today.
And what a success it was! Tiny hands, painting hands, working hands, and helping hands were all put to use by 150 volunteers. All of whom weren't asked to show up, but just did to beautify this 12th Street elementary school so that students could dream bigger and learn more about life outside of their lesson plans.
"For the children the lesson is its not always about you, it's about others and your community and it's about engaging in a purposeful event like this," Lisa Kaplan, Jackson School principal, told Eyewitness News.
"I think it's great for the kids to see people coming out and doing something that's selfless. Dr. King's words, it's important to serve."
Selflessness an important subject that Dr. King touched upon when he asked all of us, "what are you doing for others?"
These kids did it all. From cleaning out their classrooms, redoing flower boxes and a broken old bench, sorting books to working on some acoustical projects in their music room for their rock band.
And just as simultaneously as all of these tasks were accomplished, this dedicated community was making their school better, and the world better too.