This year’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day marked the school’s first Critter Service-Palooza, where Evans students helped those in need.
The students of Evans Elementary School may have had the day off from school for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, but that didn’t stop many of them from packing the school’s all-purpose room to give back to their local community.
This year’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day marked the school’s first Critter Service-Palooza, where Evans students and their families joined together to help those in need.
Whether it was creating chew toys for local animal shelters, making hats and headbands for kids who lost their hair due to medical treatments, writing cards for senior citizens or even assembling treat bags for chemotherapy patients, those at Evans were able to spend their afternoon helping others.
Leading this year’s event were Evans Elementary parents Max Ingram and Terri Wilson.
According to Ingram, the event finally came together this year after several years where families discussed the idea of having a scheduled service day for students during their annual day off for Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
“A couple like-minded people just got together and wanted to get some projects that the whole family can participate in,” Ingram said.
Ingram said there’s difficulty in trying to find age-appropriate service projects for kids at the elementary school level, but with the Critter Service-Palooza, the kids at Evans were more than able to help.
He went on to describe the Evans Elementary community as a community that often gives back to those in need, and so he saw the day of service as just another step in that direction.
Ingram also said he was pleased to see so many people joining together to share Martin Luther King Jr.’s ideals of faith and love.
“Martin Luther King Jr. was a person of faith, and as someone of faith, I love that the message of serving and loving others is so prominent today,” Ingram said.
Also spreading those ideals and helping volunteer at the event was Evans Elementary Principal Nick DiBlasi.
DiBlasi said every year the school makes a greater effort to teach kids about the values held by King and why the school was closed to honor his legacy.
While in the past Evans families volunteered at local churches and collected donations for food banks, DiBlasi said those with the school felt even more could be accomplished if the school was simply open during the holiday.
“Whenever you have certain holidays … we always want to make sure we have some event so the kids have an understanding of why,” DiBlasi said.
