GENESEO, N.Y. -- SUNY Geneseo’s seventh annual "Day of Leadership and Service" program Jan. 16 will celebrate the work and teachings of Martin Luther King Jr. on the 31st anniversary of the federal holiday commemorating the life of the civil rights leader.
The college plans the day as an inter-generational and interfaith event with SUNY Geneseo students and area senior citizen volunteers learning and working together on important community outreach efforts.
The program runs from 9:45 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the MacVittie Union Ballroom and is free and open to Livingston County senior citizens age 60 and over and Geneseo students, but registration is required. Students can register by visiting the GOLD website or by calling 585-245-5857. Senior citizens can register by calling the Livingston County Office for the Aging at 585-243-7520.
The day begins with a welcome from Interim Provost Paul Schacht followed by the keynote address from Justin Behrend, chair of the Department of History, titled “The Long History of Civil Rights Activism.” Behrend’s address will be followed at 11 a.m. by the opportunity to attend one of five GOLD (Geneseo Opportunities for Leadership Development) workshops.
At 12:15 during lunch, attendees will hear personal reflections from civil rights activist Lulu Westbrooks-Griffin, a Steuben County resident, who will who will share her story as a young black girl arrested and imprisoned for protesting at a whites-only movie theatre in Americus, Georgia in 1963.
After lunch, volunteers will work on projects such as hygiene kits for food pantries; backpack lunches for K-12 students in area schools who would otherwise go hungry over weekends and holiday breaks; fleece blankets for veterans; cookies for local heroes; making non-skid socks for care centers; activity packs for Golisano Children’s Hospital in Rochester; and greeting cards for soldiers serving overseas. The program will also feature musical selections by the Gospel Choir at Geneseo and student soloists.
Partnering in coordinating the celebration are GOLD Program at SUNY Geneseo (Geneseo Opportunities for Leadership Development), Student & Campus Life, Center for Community, Multicultural Programs & Services, Volunteerism & Service Learning, Residence Life, Student Life, Student Association, Geneseo Interfaith Service Project (GISP), Campus Auxiliary Services, Livingston CARES and the Livingston County Office for the Aging.
Media Contact:
David Irwin
Media Relations Manager
(585) 245-5516
Irwin@geneseo.edu