“We hope that MLK’s activism and leadership will inspire students to be active members of their community and make an impact through service,” said Engage, Lead, Serve Board (ELSB) student leader Sydney Tharp.

Tharp and Loghan Currin are ELSB service co-coordinators and hope students see the as an opportunity to connect with the community and campus in a way that is impactful, intentional and engaging. ��

“Service can teach so much about leading and being human,” said Currin, who is pursuing a Bachelor of Arts degree in the Individualized Major through the College of Arts and Sciences.��

Students will gather in the Swain Student Activities Center multipurpose room, W201, at 8:30 a.m. to participate in a short program before heading out to complete their service projects. The audience will hear from UofL Interim President Lori Gonzalez, one of UofL’s MLK Scholars and community leader Jackie Floyd, who will discuss a justice-based initiative focused on the people and places of Louisville’s Russell neighborhood.

Additional campus service locations are CASA of the River Region and Critically Loved. Several students also will stay on campus to help make fleece blankets for the homeless population. In addition to the Ronald McDonald House, other community service opportunities include: The Dream Factory, Harbor House of Louisville, Dreams with Wings Inc., and The Book Works.

The ELSB also has listed several to commemorate the life of Martin Luther King Jr., along with virtual services opportunities for students, staff and faculty.

The partnership will ensure that the pantry, , will have a wider array of healthful items to choose from.

Dare to Care will help stock the pantry with frozen proteins and fresh fruits and vegetables, along with some non-perishable items.

The partnership will round out the Cardinal Cupboard’s offerings of donated non-perishables and personal hygiene items, along with foods from the, which collects leftovers on campus such as bagels from Einstein Bagels and pastries from Starbucks.

“The real beauty of the partnership is access to the protein and veggies,” said Kathy Meyer, coordinator for Student Leadership and Service.

Meyer said Dare to Care also has provided food safety training to the volunteers.��

“We’re learning so much through them; it’s a wonderful partnership,” she said. “It’s made such a difference in what we’re able to do here.”

The partnership was forged when UofL President Neeli Bendapudi connected with Dare to Care leadership at a community function.

Dare to Care partners with nearly 300 local social service agencies, such as food pantries, shelters and emergency kitchens to distribute food in the region.

“Our community founded Dare to Care 50 years ago and our community’s continuing passion to ensure everyone has the food they need to be healthy still fuels our ongoing innovations and new partnerships.��In this spirit, we are thrilled and honored to partner with the University of Louisville on this new endeavor that will improve the health and the future of so many who are struggling to have a bright future,” said Brian Riendeau, Dare to Care executive director.

The food pantry recently moved to SAC W314, a roomier and more centralized location. It now boasts a refrigerator that was donated by the Department of Theatre Arts.��

The pantry is open 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday. About 50 student volunteers staff the space, which is open to anyone on campus to take whatever they need.

Also beginning this semester, Aramark is donating 200 meal swipes (vouchers) to students in need. Students may apply for them through the . A committee will allocate the vouchers based on financial need.

Food insecurity has emerged a pressing issue in college campuses across the nation.

Last year, the federal government published a����on college students and food insecurity, recommending colleges and state agencies do a better job providing information that would help eligible students obtain assistance from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

UofL brought the topic to the forefront last year in awarding its Grawemeyer Award in ����ֱ�� to Temple University’s Sara Goldrick-Rab. Her eye-opening research into the modern struggle to pay for college, published in her 2016 book, “Paying the Price: College Costs, Financial Aid and the Betrayal of the American Dream,” details students’ struggles with not only tuition and books, but also food insecurity, homelessness and lack of transportation. Her nonprofit research center, the Hope Center for College, Community and Justice, studies these issues to improve the lives of what Goldrick-Rab calls “#RealCollege students.”

“I’m delighted to see University of Louisville students acting to support their classmates’ basic needs,” Goldrick-Rab said. “For far too long, insufficient food and poor housing marked college life, undermining a learning experience that should be immensely rewarding. Louisville is a welcome addition to this national movement.”

She realized later that not everyone is that passionate about the right to cast a ballot but still thinks they should be. She and fellow UofL student Clara Wilson are bringing their zeal for the electoral process to campus life and encouraging others to join in – especially this week in the midterm elections.

“Midterms are coming up, you guys. We’ve really got to get in here to vote,” Wilson told students passing near their table on the Quad during National Voter Registration Day Sept. 25. Students checked out an information sheet about who’s up for election in Kentucky, literature about signing up to vote and an iPad with the Secretary of State site, along with stickers reminding “Midterms Matter” and “Friends Don’t Let Friends Miss Elections.”

Wilson and Greenwell are UofL ambassadors for Vote Everywhere, a nationwide, nonpartisan effort by the Andrew Goodman Foundation to encourage citizens to get involved in the democratic process. Their endeavors are part of a coalition of partners and programs that helped gain UofL a “voter-friendly campus” designation from the Campus Vote Project and NASPA – Student Affairs Administrators in Higher ����ֱ��.

Greenwell, a May political science graduate from Springfield who now is a first-year law student, and Wilson, a junior political science major from Elizabethtown, attended the foundation’s National Civic Leadership Training Summit in July at Ramapo College of New Jersey. There they learned about voter registration, nonpartisanship, leadership and alliance-building.

The nonpartisan alliance at UofL includes groups such as Student Government Association, National Pan-Hellenic Council, Campus YMCA and the Engage Lead Serve Board.

“They’ve been working really hard to get the information out,” said Kathy Meyer, ELSB adviser and the Office of Student Involvement’s student leadership coordinator. “Through Vote Everywhere we’re able to surpass the reach of those partnerships.”

Recently they targeted absentee voters, reminding them to mail their ballots to their home counties; at a campus party to address the mailings, Canon chipped in to cover their postage.

The students are urging registered Jefferson County voters in affiliated housing and Old Louisville to get to their nearby polling places Tuesday and are participating in “Stroll to the Polls” walks with volunteers at 9:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m. and 5 p.m. from the Student Activities Center Ballroom. Student Government Association organized an election results TV watch party at Ekstrom Library’s Chao Auditorium from 7-10 p.m. after the polls close, according to Nicole Fielder, SGA governmental relations director.

“We’re trying to make any effort possible to (help students) vote any way they can,” Greenwell said. “It takes five minutes to register but it takes more commitment to go out and vote.”

So how do she and Wilson counter apathy?

“People tell me all the time their vote doesn’t matter,” Greenwell said. Her response: “Your vote is unique. People vote different ways for different reasons. No one else is going to vote the same way as me for the same reasons.”

As a student of political science and now law, Greenwell said she doesn’t regard politics negatively but rather as a mechanism for change.

“It’s all about the world you want to exist.”

The Alternative Service Break Board at the University of Louisville is a program of the Engage Lead Serve Board with a mission to create active citizens through direct service. Since 2015, Alternative Service Break Board (ASBB) has been impacting local, national and international communities.

This ASB trip focused on the LGBTQ+ Youth and Homeless populations in Atlanta and the issues surrounding their circumstances. Our group became immersed into the culture of Atlanta by staying in the Lydia House, which is an renovated church in the center of the city. We volunteered for four days at various locations that focus on LGBTQ+ Youth and Homeless citizens. Most of us on the trip have a close connection to one or both of these populations.

We left in December, the day after finals. Throughout the course of our trip, we worked alongside three non-profit organizations. The first, called City of Light,��helps create safe spaces for all people. Here, we deconstructed office spaces and classrooms, moved furniture and chairs, and helped organize and create pamphlets for people who wanted to be members of this organization. Our group chose to work with the City of Light because of its commitment to creating safe spaces for students and other folks who identity on the the LGBTQ+ spectrum.

Our second location was Lost-N-Found, which is an non-profit dedicated to end homeless for the LGBTQ+ Youth. Here, we organized clothing, books and CDs for the organization’s thrift shop. We also created more than 100 hygiene and care packages for its nonprofit arm, called CHRIS 180. While we dropped off the kits, we were able to tour different spaces and programs that are available to the people of Atlanta.��

We chose this organization because its proceeds go toward outreach, a transitional home and an LGBTQ+ Youth center.��

On the last day of the trip, we traveled throughout Atlanta to different museums and local hot spots, such as the Civil Rights and Human Rights Museum, Centennial Park, and the Flying Biscuit Cafe.

Overall, our was a success because it was the first completely student-run trip outside of the state of Kentucky. Our work with the three different organizations made up a total of 340 hours of community service, which equates to a full-time employee working for 8.5 weeks.

Our overall purpose was to focus on how an individual or group can leave an great impact on a local or national community. Since our return, we are now more equipped to serve the Louisville community with a passion for service.

The University of Louisville’s Engage Lead Serve Board will host the second annual Engage Kentucky Symposium 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 4 at the Bingham Humanities Building.

The Engage Kentucky Symposium is a social change-oriented event that will cover social justice topics including: creating a revolution, the power of social media, racial justice, allyship, sustainability, fundraising/grant writing, collaborative professionals, motivation and inspiration, food justice, storytelling and more.

“I hope people will be fired up about social justice and better understand how to use their strengths to positively impact others, their community and our world,” said Bridgette Hildreth, ELSB’s director of training and leadership. “I want the symposium to evoke lasting and effective inspiration as people move further along the active citizen continuum: from being a member of an organization, to a volunteer, toward being a conscientious citizen and becoming an active citizen.”

The symposium will consist of a welcome reception catered by Panera, a keynote address, several breakout sessions, and lunch catered by Qdoba.

will deliver the conference keynote. The Ashlees deliver keynotes and training that help teams and organizations delve into social justice.

“I think they will inspire participants to leave seeking ways to give back to the community through meaningful ways with the strengths they possess,” Hildreth said.

Register for the free 2017 Engage Kentucky Symposium.