LCSC MLK Day of Service 2012

Lewis-Clark State College’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service was a huge success!  About 120 people turned out for the educational programming and luncheon and about 94 stayed to participate in a community service project.  Educational programming included a Quinault native dancer, the Lewiston High School Gold Voices and solo vocalist Peg Harvey-Marose.  Returning motivational speaker Durbin Davis spoke as well.

The theme of Davis’ speech was “the mark.”  He encouraging the volunteers to leave their “mark” on this day of service and to not just volunteer on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day but throughout the year as well.  this message was heard loud and clear by the Idaho Food Bank Warehouse volunteers.  After about 40 minutes of starting her project, one volunteer exclaimed, “We have filled 300 bags (of split peas) in the wee short time we’ve been here!”  Another volunteer mentioned that she used to work at the Food Bank in Boise and was happy to have the opportunity to volunteer at the Food Bank in the new community she lives in now. 

When the two-hour service time was complete, volunteers had bagged 1200 pounds of split peas, bagged 800 pounds of potatoes, repacked 600 pounds of food, handed out 80 bags of clothing to people in need at Kincare Coalition, built 26 bird houses for Idaho Fish and Game, helped put up dry wall in a Habitat house, folded and organized clothing at Opportunities Unlimited and St. Vincent de Paul, walked dogs at the Humane Society and cleaned a newly remodeled space at the Habitat Store.

A video featuring LCSC’s MLK Day of Service is now available for viewing on You Tube…

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qxl_in524DA&list=UU73ON5IelFqzY_-tVuDMRCg&index=1&feature=plcp

Thank you to all of our volunteers!  We hope this event will continue to grow!

 

Part II Local Small Farms Tour-Jim’s Year Round Produce

Plump, orange pumpkins and a tray of ripe, red tomatoes greet visitors as they crowd into the little fruit stand to hear Jim of Jim’s Year Round Produce in Juliaetta, ID talk about how he took his business from a fledgling, backyard operation to the robust organic farm it is today.  He says his farm is not about the money, it’s about giving back.  Giving back to his community is where he has found success in farming and in return, the community has helped his farm grow.

Tuesday, September 20, was one of those “giving” days.  Jim invited community members to a free tour of his small, organic farm.  It was a chance for folks to learn about organic farming practices and reap the benefits of Jim’s harvest through samples of fresh-sliced tomatoes straight from the garden.

The tour, organized by UI Nez Perce Extension and LC Service Corps, aimed to inform the public about sustainability and the benefits of local farming as well as educate anyone considering starting a small farm of their own or who just wants to plant an organic vegetable garden.

As our colorful tour guide walked us around his impressive farm, plump, yellow squash, cucumbers, and tomatoes scattered the rugged landscape overlooking the Snake River.  As dusk crept upon us, Jim showed us his irrigation system and explained how he keeps the critters from eating his vegetables while maintaining “organic certified” status.  However, most poignant about his speech was his thoughts about what local food means to him and why it’s important to keep it organic.

“It has made me a healthier eater.  It has made me more health conscious about what I feed my kids or what I’d want anybody else to eat.”

“A lot of people want to be able to familiarize themselves with their farmer.  What better way to do it than to go to that farmer’s stand and say, ‘I want 20 pounds of tomatoes,’ and the farmer says ‘hold on, give me 15 minutes’.  There’s a lot of reassurance in that.”

By the conclusion of our tour, we were provided that reassurance with a display of several varieties of freshly sliced tomatoes and homemade salsa.  Boy, were they delicious!

Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service at LCSC!

Join Lewis-Clark State College for a Day of Service!

Lewis-Clark State College-Monday, January, 17^th, in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his legacy, LCSC students and folks from the surrounding community will be serving those in need, going door-to-door promoting sustainability, participating in creek clean-ups, painting and spending time with the elderly.  LCSC anticipates more than 100 participants for this day of service, which aims to meet community service needs.

The event begins in the LCSC Williams Conference Center at 10:00 a.m.  Refreshments will be provided.  Following a speech from local motivational speaker Durbin Davis, volunteers will be assigned to one of several service projects and given instructions.  Non-profits involved include the Willow Center Inc. for Grieving Children, Wedgewood Terrace, PCEI, Jack O’Conner Center, the Heritage House, the Food Bank and the Humane Society. 

In addition, volunteers will be going door-to-door passing out reusable shopping bags containing an energy efficient light bulb (CFL) and an energy-saving tips flyer, printed on 100 percent recycled paper, to area residents.  The LC Service Corps thanks Avista for donating 200 CFLs and the flyers for this activity.

Service projects will wrap up at about 4:00 p.m.  Volunteers will then be invited to return to the Williams Conference Center for a chili dinner.  Following the dinner, volunteers are welcome to attend a candlelight procession beginning at the LCSC Amphitheater at 6:00 p.m.  Rev. Happy Watkins, from Spokane’s New Hope Baptist Church, will give his rendition of MLK’s “I Have a Dream” speech, and Sesitshaya Marimba Ensemble will perform African and Caribbean music at the LCSC Activities Center.

Contact:  Lindsey Davies

Service-Learning Coordinator

LC Service Corps

208-792-2740

lldavies@lcsc.edu

Tribal Endeavors in Environmental Restoration

LCSC Native American Alumni Panel | Native American Awareness Week

March 11, 2010

Panel: Gabriel Bohnee (ERWM Director – Nez Perce Tribe), Solo Greene (ERWM Education Specialist), Antonio Smith (ERWM Communications Specialist), and Anthony Smith (ERWM Hanford Cultural Monitor).

The panel was made up of LCSC grads that now work for the Hanford site. They deal with nuclear (and possibly other) waste clean up through “Greater than Class C Waste”.  They talked about how a lot of the issues we are facing with local clean up efforts (streams and otherwise) and Hanford ties in with the treaties made with the various tribes in the area.  Another focus of the talk was on mapping out what this treaty covered, which was the areas where they were granted hunting and fishing rights (as well as buffalo hunting rights in Yellowstone).

Nez Perce Tribe ERWM (Environmental Restoration and Waste Management):

• Internships are available, and they all talked about how you can work your way up in the program.
• Hunting seasons in the tribes are done more by intuition, the moon and the weather rather than calendar dates
• There is concern about revealing historic tribal sites because of fear of vandalism (as seen recently)
• They want to make sure that there is communication between those interested in the environmental laws, cultural resource laws, and tribal concerns
• There is concern about mercury levels in the streams and rivers

-Casey Armstrong | Social Media Developer

For more information about ERWM, visit their website.