Newark Academy’s Inaugural MLK Day of Service a Success

While there were no classes in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, more than 100 attendees participated in Newark Academy’s inaugural MLK Day of Service on January 21. With sponsorship from the Community Service Council, Black and Latino Families Network, Alumni, Board of Governors, Office of Equity and Inclusion and NAPA Engagement and Inclusion Committee, as well as help from NA Student clubs, including the Asian Diversity Group, Do Something Club, Gay-Straight Alliance, Hubun, Indian Club, Mi Casa, POWER and Umoja, the participants spent a day of frigid temperatures as a collective community warming others’ life.
Director of Community Service Sarah Fischer and Director of Equity and Inclusion Gardy Guiteau welcomed the group before Masters of Ceremonies Alan Lin ’19 and Ava Sharahy ’19 gave remarks. Ruqaiyyah Lucas-Caldwell ’20 then introduced Keynote Speaker, Tanya Fields. Tanya is a food justice activist, educator, urban farmer, food blogger, and founder and executive director of the BLK ProjeK, Bronx-based food justice and health organization serving underserved women of color by creating women-led economic development opportunities and is committed to urban farming and elimination of food deserts.
 
Winter Storm Harper passing through and negative degree wind chill that weekend didn’t stop the NA community from coming together. Students, parents, faculty and alumni had the opportunity to learn about MLK’s vision for the Poor People’s Campaign and its relevance to the work of community organizer and urban farmer Tanya Fields.
 
“As an African American woman living in the Bronx, Tanya was struck by the topics of food insecurity in her community and desired to make an effort to change that,” Kaya Patel ’22, publicity representative for her class, recalled. “Her urban farming revolution and transportation of healthy foods around the Bronx have changed the lives of many.”

After hearing from and speaking with Tanya, attendees participated in a Global Village Activity, an experiential learning activity that explored the idea of the unequal distribution of community resources. The activity examined how some communities, who want the same things and need the same basic resources, lack the funds and support to acquire these and have to make hard choices to make their survival. In the activity, participants were randomly assigned to one of three groups and tasked with building the ideal community by buying properties and necessities from the bank. These groups began with an unequal amount of wealth and had to find creative solutions to build their communities. This activity worked in conjunction with the ideas our speaker brought forward about community access to food and the impact of industry on the health of residents. The breakout session was run completely by eighth-grade students who participated in this activity this fall during their Service Leadership Day.
 
Following some riveting conversation, there was some inhouse community service decorating “Birthday Boxes” and “Sweet Cases” for Together We Rise, an organization helping children in foster care, the recipients of the service projects. The “Birthday Boxes” were made for kids in foster care to celebrate their special day as they are often forgotten, especially if they are placed in group homes. The “Sweet Cases” were duffle bags for foster kids to receive when they enter the system instead of a trash bag.
 
Gardy said the day was a “roaring success and testament to the amazing amount of work and care that went into its planning and execution by various groups from the NA community.”
 
Plans are already in beginning to make this inaugural event annual.
 
"I am extremely excited about the success of our first MLK Day of Service,” Sarah said. “To see the entire community including alumni, parents, faculty, staff, students from Grades 6-12 and their families come together to engage in critical learning and reflection about the impact of poverty and the legacy of Dr. King's Poor People's Campaign was amazing. This day of learning and service not only builds on MLK's dedication to addressing income inequality as a human right worth fighting for, but also ties into the year-long conversation we are having about the causes and impacts of poverty."
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