Day of service to honor Martin Luther King Jr.
They sorted, stacked, swept, painted, mopped and vacuumed.
Nearly 225 Waukegan Youth Conservation Corps volunteers fanned out across Lake County on Monday, helping to clean and organize, and doing good deeds, in the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service.
Honoring the legacy of famed civil rights leader, YCC workers visited the Waukegan Housing Authority, Camp Henry Horner in Ingleside and Jesus Name Apostolic Church in Waukegan among other sites.
"I'm here because I have a spirit to volunteer anywhere, anytime," said 16-year-old Julia Coleman. The Waukegan High School junior decided her day off from school was better spent serving than hanging out with friends. She joined about a dozen people to clean and organize the sprawling Salvation Army Thrift Store in Gurnee.
"I like the idea of giving something back," she said.
The Waukegan-based YCC is a nonprofit organization that mentors young adults using community service, job skills training and education.
After losing their longtime sponsor last year, it wasn't clear whether the YCC would be able to participate in this year's event. But a Lake Zurich-based trucking company stepped up to fill the need.
"I read a newspaper article about the need and thought, 'our company can do that,'" said New Age Transportation President Carolyn Gable. "So many of the kids YCC is trying to help come from single-parent homes. For some, it's like paddling up stream with one paddle. I felt like I wanted to help."
New Age donated $2,500 for transportation and food for the volunteers.
"We'll be doing this next year," Gable said. "I'd do it in a heartbeat."
She has three little kids at home, but volunteer Sherri Richardson lined up a baby sitter, put on some old clothes and showed up to work at the thrift store.
"Dr. King was extremely intelligent and could have made chosen a career that would paid very well. But instead he gave his entire life giving back to people," said Richardson, of Highland Park. "Especially now with the situation in Haiti, people want to do something for someone else. People want to give back."
The Corporation for National and Community Service, the federal agency that has led the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service since 1994, says more than 10,000 service projects planned in all 50 states addressed social issues from poverty and hunger to homelessness. Some of those projects will be connected to Haitian earthquake relief.
Thrift store assistant manager Tim McBride welcomed the volunteer help at the 30,000-square-foot store.
"Any help really makes a difference around here," McBride said. "It's really a wonderful thing to see people give up their personal time to help. We are really blessed to have them here today."
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