“Being the Change” For a Change (ARC Chapter Meets MLK Day)
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With utmost respect for the message of Dr. Martin Luther King, American River College’s SCTA members braved a very early holiday morning, determined to ” be the change” that Dr. King’s inspiration, Mahatma Gandhi spoke of. We chose to support the efforts of the founders and all of the donators and volunteers that have created the Roberts Family Development Center in North Sacramento. The holiday activity was part of a larger four day annual event, organized by “Hands On Sacramento”, an affiliate of the national Points Of Life Foundation.
The Roberts Family Development Center is founded on the principles of family. They use a holistic approach to family development designed to address the many issues affecting today’s family. Founders, Derrell and Tina Roberts had a dream to provide their community with a place where the youth and therefore the community could thrive. Our chapter was grateful to be able to witness and take part in a living dream that totally embraces the teachings of Dr. King.
Their mission statement is to provide services to the community that meet the individual needs of each family member, focusing on early childhood and family education, economic empowerment and technology. Their goal is to nurture personal growth, strengthen families and enhance community development and civic involvement.
Most of the volunteers from our club arrived at almost precisely 8 a.m. on the holiday morning and found at least 50 volunteers from the community, on time and ready to roll up their sleeves and get to work. This year’s total participation in the “Hands on Sacramento” MLK event was estimated at more than 1,500 volunteers, or double last year’s total participation county wide.
I caught wind of a garden renovation project and immediately headed that way. Others aided in an interior panting project in a building called the Computer Cafe. The main building at the center previously served as a chapel for a local church. Today, it’s an indoor recreation center for an after school program. Volunteers went at cleaning and organizing the giant kitchen that is part of the 2,500 square foot hall.
A fairly large and sheltered garden on one side of the Computer Cafe, was in need of a good turning and blending in of some premium gardening soil. There were numerous beautiful flat stones that had been donated to create a stepping stone walkway all around the garden. As we went about preparing the soil for planting, reinforcements of volunteers buried the rocks into the sand that surrounded the garden, leaving the stones flush with the surface. Thankfully, the Roberts Center is equipped with plenty of shovels and the garden was transformed in short order.
The event wrapped up at midday with all of the goals more than met. A week earlier our club was mulling over the volumes of volunteer projects to pick from, to serve the community for Martin Luther King Day. For some reason, The Roberts Center had seemed to jump off the list of choices. For some reason we knew it was the right place for us. By the end of the project it was obvious to all of us, that there was more to our connection with the Roberts Center than this one day. Somewhere down the road, we will be back to continue the dream.
