Upstate residents answer King's call to service

By E. Richard Walton
Originally published 01/16/2011 in The Greenville News (subscription required).

Parents, children and community leaders, several hundred in all, gathered Saturday at the Sterling Community Center to talk to representatives of service agencies and to volunteer for a coming week of community service in memory of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Organized by coordinators of MLK Dream Weekend, the United Way of Greenville, Hands On Greenville and other assisting and volunteer organizations, the event featured more than 30 booths staffed with volunteers to help kids “realize their dreams,” said Mike Posey, a spokesman for United Way of Greenville County.

The dream is within reach of all, even kids whose parents are behind bars, said George Hicks, a case manager at Sunbelt Human Advancement Resources Inc. in Greenville. The nonprofit is unveiling a new program to counsel such children, he said.

A healthy child is the dream of all parents, and so Kool Smiles, which helps people get dental care, was a popular attraction. Charles Atlas Hill, Kool Smiles community relations specialist, advised parents to get their kids to the dentist “by age 1, when they have four teeth,” and embrace the idea that their children should begin regular dental visits by age 4.

Brooke Jones of Hands On Greenville said she helped a group of volunteers make “social justice collages” that will go up in schools and senior centers and be used as place mats by recipients of Meals on Wheels.

One stack of 100 or so “social justice collages” was made of colorful paper and cutouts with inspirational messages such as: “Bridges that are burned can be rebuilt.”