By Rose O’Connor | Correspondent

Students throughout the Diocese of Trenton honored the legacy of the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Jan. 19 by participating in a day of service and meeting in St. Ann School, Lawrenceville.

Organized by the Center for FaithJustice, the day of service provided almost 200 students from the Dioceses of Trenton and Metuchen, as well as the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, the opportunity to volunteer their time at various locations throughout Mercer County.

According to its mission statement, the Center for FaithJustice, located on the campus of St. Ann Parish, hopes to inspire “the next generation of leaders by creating programs to serve those in need and educate for justice in the Catholic tradition.”

This is the seventh year the Center for FaithJustice facilitated the Day of Service on Martin Luther King Day.

The day-long event began with prayer in St. Ann School before the young adults and their group leaders headed out to the various sites to begin their service.

The students volunteered their time and talents doing maintenance and art projects in St. Ann Church, Kinderworld Daycare Center, Hamilton Grove Nursing Home, Habitat for Humanity, HomeFront, Morris Hall, the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen and Enable, a group home for developmentally disabled young adults.

“It was great, I was very enlightened by this whole day; I have a completely new perspective on the elderly,” Chantalle Kfouzy, a senior in Sacred Heart University, Fairfield, Ct., and parishioner of St. Thomas More Parish, Manalapan, said of her experiences at the Hamilton Grove nursing home.

“It was great to speak with [the elderly] one on one,” Kfouzy continued. “They sacrificed a lot for their families; it was very heartwarming and a very touching experience,” the criminal justice major continued.

Fellow parishioner and seventh grade student in Marlboro Middle School, Alexis Bonilla, said, “It felt so good to help out.  It was nice to know we were doing something good.”

Alex Tantum, also of St. Thomas More Parish, found his time at the nursing home to be “an eye-opening experience.”

“I always thought the elderly had families that visited them.  Some of them do not,” the Colts Neck High School student confessed.

Religious education students from St. Ann Parish played games and made lunch for the residents of Enable, a group home for developmentally disabled adults, at their two locations in Hamilton and Princeton.

 “We’re trying to get everyone to have fun,” Ceila Marsh, a member of St. Ann Parish and a student in Lawrence Middle School, said of her time at the group home in Hamilton.

Marsh’s fellow classmates Maura Canavan and Kate Edgar echoed similar sentiments on how meaningful it was to help others in need.

 “We made their day, and that felt good,” Edgar said.

Jan Wilcox,  director of programming and outreach for the Center for FaithJustice, challenged the participants to identify their strengths and weaknesses as they completed their service at their specified locations and asked them recognize where they “saw the face of God” in their acts of service. 

Angela Roberts, a seventh grade student in St. Ann School, said she saw the face of God in “doing something good” as she recalled her time at Kinderworks, a day care center in Trenton, where she and fellow volunteers cleaned the facilities and toys.

“We’re helping to keep the kids healthy,” Roberts said.

As the youth reassembled in St. Ann School to reflect on their experiences, Wilcox praised them for their dedication and service to those who are less fortunate.

“You chose to give up your day off,” she continued. “You said, ‘I am going to give myself to you today, God.’”

Following a prayer and “Litany of Service,” she encouraged the youth to recommit themselves to the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr.

“Are you ready to re-commit yourselves to living Martin Luther King, Jr.’s dream?” she queried.

“It was very fun, I would certainly do this again,” Tyler Partnow, a member of St. Thomas More Parish, acknowledged.

As the volunteers and their chaperones returned back to their parishes considering the events of the day, Wilcox joyfully remarked that “It was great, it was a good day.”

“This was a great group of kids,” she said of the 197 young adolescents, many of whom hailed from seven parishes within the Diocese of Trenton.

The number of students who chose to volunteer their time on the holiday continues to grow each year and Wilcox believes the number will only continue to increase in the years to come.

“It’s our hope to continue to blast Trenton and the surrounding areas with God’s love,” she said.

More stories to come on observing Martin Luther King Day in the Diocese.