Students serve community in honor of M.L.K. Jr. Day

On Monday morning, Sam Sittenfield sat on the floor of the Repair the World building on Broad St. in East Liberty with two Pitt students, Sarah Shaykevich and Leanna Travis. The trio was sorting through cardstock envelopes stuffed with free samples of Post-it notes and highlighter tabs that they would later donate to after-school programs.

Sittenfield and the  students collected classroom supplies as part of PittServes’ Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service on Monday. Roughly 800 Pitt students signed up to volunteer and worked with nonprofit organizations in the greater Pittsburgh area from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., according to director Misti McKeehen. The office’s mission was to “make it a day on, rather than a day off” for students, who volunteered in several neighborhoods, including East Liberty and Point Breeze, or on campus in the William Pitt Union.

The Day of Service has grown since its 2001 conception, McKeehen said, when it comprised a service project by just one group, Jumpstart. Students’ participation in the service day then grew each year.

Under Sittenfield’s supervision, Shaykevich and Travis organized donations for progams such as the Neighborhood Learning Alliance in Garfield and Higher Achievement in the Hill District.

“We collected school supplies, but also things like deodorant,” Sittenfield said. “Sometimes middle schoolers can be smelly.”

Rachel Zadnik, outreach coordinator for PittServes, estimated that about 85 percent of the student volunteers signed up in groups, such as social and service fraternities, student organizations or even as a floor from a residence hall. Zadnik said the other 15 percent signed up as individuals.

Zadnik said she reached out to community members and organizations to see who would need volunteers on Monday.

“I know that in the past [the organizers] had difficulty finding organizations who were open on Martin Luther King Jr. Day,” Zadnik said. “This year, we really tried to pinpoint projects that students would enjoy.”

Some of these projects included cleaning with the Friends of the Hollywood Theater in Dormont, an organization based out of a historic theater that shows old movies and cult classics in special screenings. Students also cleaned and packed laptop and desktop computers for shipment at Computer Reach, an organization in Point Breeze that ships refurbished technology to third world countries and refugees in Pittsburgh.

While other students left campus, Carrie Kramer, a sophomore majoring in political science, worked with a group of five students in the William Pitt Union, where they sorted and counted clothes for the Give a Thread campus campaign. The campaign aims to collect 150,000 articles of clothing, a number that would set a Guinness World Record for largest number of clothes collected for donation or recycle.

This year, Kramer said she signed up to volunteer with her honors fraternity, Phi Sigma Pi. Kramer said that she came last year, too, even though she wasn’t yet affiliated with what she endearingly calls “the Pi.”

Another group of about 25 students went to Repair the World, a nonprofit organization located in East Liberty. Repair the World is a national Jewish organization dedicated to getting millennials involved in their communities, with additional branches in Detroit, Baltimore and Philadelphia. 

Sittenfield and Jenna Summerfield are both members of Repair the World and participate in a year of service and community involvement in Pittsburgh.

“Even though it’s a Jewish organization, the majority of people that we serve are not Jewish,” Summerfield said. “At our branch in particular, we focus on food justice and education.”

Travis, a sophomore majoring in neuroscience, said she’s glad the service effort brought her to Repair the World in particular this year. She said last year she participated and helped package books for Jumpstart on campus.

“I want to come back and do more with them,” she said. “It’s a very cool atmosphere and well-organized and all the people who work here are young, in their 20s.”

Shaykevich, a sophomore bioengineering major, said she enjoys having time reserved for volunteering. 

“Sometimes during the school year, it’s easy to get caught up in schoolwork,” Shaykevich said. “You might not get the chance to go out and volunteer, so it’s nice to have a day dedicated to it.”

Sittenfield said he’s happy to see the Pitt community volunteering and getting involved in Repair the World. 

“When people get involved in their community, they have fun and it makes them feel good,” he said as Taylor Swift’s lyrics boomed in the background. “That’s why we’re playing pop music in here.”