To honor the start of Black History Month, over 110 Hamilton College students spent Saturday, Feb. 4th volunteering in the Clinton area for Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service. This was the 25th annual MLK Jr. Service Day hosted by the Hamilton Association for Volunteering, Outreach and Charity (HAVOC), which is a part of Hamilton’s Community Outreach & Opportunity Project (COOP). HAVOC describes the organization as a group that “encourages students to get off their couches, get off the Hill, and get into the community to create change.”
Rachel Shin ’25, Co-Director of HAVOC, provided details on how the student volunteers spent their Saturday afternoon. She stated, “we had 110+ people show up to volunteer on the day of, despite the cold! This is probably the most volunteers we have had for MLK Jr Day of Service. Volunteers went to sites in Clinton, Utica, and Rome. The sites this year consisted of Brookdale, Hope House, Rebuilding CNY, Emmaus House, Upstate Cerebral Palsy, Rome Humane Society, Veterans Outreach, Kirkland Town Library, Kirkland Art Center, Jervis Public Library, and Dunham Public Library.”
Shin explained HAVOC’s goal for the Day of Service. “We hope that the students feel inspired to continue volunteering and engaging in service opportunities. While the biggest goal of MLK Jr. Day of Service is to make a positive impact on everyone involved, especially our sites, it also allows us the opportunity to connect with and/or stay connected with our community partners. We also hope that the students and those in the community feel more connected to one another!”
Abby Marzec ’25 volunteered as a part of MLK Jr. Day of Service, and she shared what the day meant to her. Marzec explained, “I helped to sort donations at Emmaus House, a shelter for women in the City of Utica. The sort of work we did — with shelters, rebuilding initiatives and the like — was a really big part of my life during lower and upper school. I think I got away from that for a year or two and it felt great to get involved again, building relationships with the organizations out here.”
Members of HAVOC shared that there are several more future opportunities for Hamilton students to volunteer in the area. In the fall, students should be on the lookout for HAVOC’s Make a Difference Day.