Monday, Jan. 15 at 10 a.m. | Wexler Grant Community School, 55 Foote St., New Haven
The food drive was held to benefit the Women of the Village Food Pantry and was a collaboration of 21 organizations designed to feed 300 families.
“Not everybody gets the chance to help people out,” said Sydney McEntire, a young volunteer from Prospect. “Some people are really busy. But, you always have to take a day to do whatever is needed.”
“Today is a day on, not a day off,” explained Adrienne Parkmond, Esq., the President of the New Haven Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha. “It’s a day of service, and so, as he said, ‘Out of a mountain of despair, there is a stone of hope.’”
The historically Black sorority Alpha Kappa Alpha is leading this MLK Day effort to try to help with all the hunger in the community.
Martin Luther King Day at Wexler Grant School used to look a lot different. They used to fill classrooms with presentations and workshops. The pandemic shut that down and highlighted the food insecurity of many families.
It is also something more meaningful on a day that honors a man who was all about lifting his community.
“Martin Luther King had his whole speech about his dream,” said Rilee Lewis of Higher Heights. “I think we are the living dream that he spoke to us about. It’s just a really nice feeling to be able to come here and give back to our community.”