UNC-Chapel Hill and NC Central University in Durham are schools that are geographically very close, but very distant from each other in the day-to-day lives of the students. At a recent meeting of the Conference Board of Higher Education and Campus Ministry, Gloria Winston-Harris of NCCU Wesley Campus Ministry at NCCU posed a question to Ryan Spurrier of UNC Wesley Foundation: “Why not have UNC Wesley and NCCU Campus Ministry come together for an MLK Day of Service?”

From that question, a dozen students from UNC Wesley joined a dozen students from NCCU Wesley Campus Ministry on Jan. 19 for an MLK Day of Service, co-sponsored by the United Way of the Greater Triangle. Students spent the morning on the NC Central campus packaging soup, rice, and bean mixes, making baby blankets, writing cards to encourage student reading, and preparing literacy tools for the local community. NCCU’s Campus Pantry also benefited from this effort with donations of over 745 pounds of non-perishable food items and approximately $1,000 raised from the MLK Day of Service event.

After serving together, the groups lunched together – getting to know each other and beginning relationships that hopefully will continue in the weeks and semesters ahead.

Peyton Lambert, of NCCU said, “The experience was so rich in love. God’s vision to Martin Luther King Jr. was witnessed on MLK Day of Service. To see people working together was just like different threads being stitched together to produce something beautiful like a blanket. To pray and work with UNC Wesley students on this special day was powerful.”

Other students, faculty, community groups, and Durham elected officials, including Mayor Bill Bell, also volunteered at the event.

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