700 volunteers beautify Highbridge Green School in South Bronx for Martin Luther King Jr. Day
NEW YORK - Highbridge Green School in the South Bronx hosted a huge effort in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Monday, organized by the nonprofit City Year New York.
This is the first time the service project has happened since the start of the pandemic, breaking a record for attendance with 700 volunteers.
In every corner of the corridors, classrooms and cafeteria, new friends could be found organizing books and supplies, building new furniture and beautifying the building's walls with art.
"What's important for us as an organization is to ensure that the learning environment for our students is set up so they can thrive," said City Year New York executive director Qwamid Francis.
Driven by community service, the organization serves 17 local schools and trains the AmeriCorps educators assigned to work in them.
"I did this right out of college," said volunteer Kamero Neblett, "and I was just like I want to stay in education, so now I'm an assistant principal of a middle school."
With the nonprofit's major event back for the first time in three years, sponsors like Starbucks and Wells Fargo brought big contingents to chip in.
"To have other kids walk in the school and look at the paintings and be like, oh, someone really cared about us and came to the school and actually painted the school for us, they can enjoy the beautiful school that we did," said 11-year-old volunteer Alannah Desert.
The brightly painted walls will allow children to walk in the memory of Dr. King, with murals that send empowering messages to the young minds.
"The life of MLK, it's really about service," said Francis. "Service was his North Star, and he believed in the power of possibility and community and convening, so these paintings are just a reminder of all the work he's done, and it's really how we carry forward his legacy."
City Year's efforts encourage kids to live their dreams daily. A study shows City Year partner schools were up to two to three times more likely to improve on core test scores.
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