School Supply and Book Drive Underway

A school supply and book drive is under way in Cullowhee, Sylva and Dillsboro as part of Western Carolina University’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day pre-celebration activities. Items collected through Saturday, Jan. 24, will benefit Jackson County schools and Friends of the Library in Sylva. Collection sites include Annie’s Bakery, Guadalupe Café and the post office in Sylva, and Harold’s Supermarket in Dillsboro. On campus, school supplies and books can be donated at the Multicultural Center, Center for Service Learning, College of Education and Allied Professions, Department of Residential Living and Hunter Library. “The Martin Luther King Jr. celebration is not just a weeklong celebration for remembrance and education but, above all, a celebration of service,” said Tanisha Jenkins, director of multicultural affairs at WCU. In addition to the school supply and book drive, WCU is hosting a day of service on Monday, Jan. 19. Volunteers will work with Mountain Trace Nursing Center, Mountain Projects community action agency and Project FIRE, which provides firewood for low-income elderly residents in rural areas. On a second day of service Saturday, Jan. 24, WCU students will join students from other Western North Carolina colleges to help youth-focused agencies. “The national slogan for the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service, ‘A Day On, Not a Day Off,’ sends a strong message that we have a responsibility to render service to our community,” said Katie Graunke, program coordinator for the Center for Service Learning at WCU who is pre-registering volunteers. “When students work together with others in the community, they can make meaningful social change a reality.” For detailed information about WCU’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day weeklong ‘Dream Fulfilled?! … A Day to Dream, A Lifetime to Act’ celebration, check out http://www.wcu.edu/12055.asp or http://calendar.wcu.edu, or call Jenkins at (828) 227-2276. To learn more about service activities, call Graunke at (828) 227-2592.