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Honoring Dr. King's Legacy
College's fourth annual MLK Jr. Day of Service brings the Western Bayside Community together
Featured News | January 16, 2016
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Students, faculty and staff from the Virginia Wesleyan community joined neighbors in Western Bayside for a morning of service and fellowship at Heritage United Methodist Church to honor the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. The theme for the College's Fourth Annual MLK Jr. Day of Service, "I Have a Dream for my Family," focused on families helping families.
Members of the Western Bayside community gathered to engage in collaborative and fun activities such as “dream making” and “card making” to show appreciation for those who contribute to making our community a safer place.
Students from Bayside High School and Virginia Wesleyan College planned the day of service along with members of Western Bayside Communities United.
"It is more important than ever for communities to come together as one in support of each other, much as Dr. King imagined,” said Diane Hotaling, Director of Community Service for Virginia Wesleyan College. “That the college and high school students in our neighborhood have joined with the adults of Western Bayside Community United to plan a day of service with and for families speaks volumes about the potential to achieve Dr. King's Dream here."
In addition to dream making and card making, participants spent the morning packing food bags for area school children, packaging socks collected by the church to donate, engaging in conversation with police 
officers and firefighters that serve Western Bayside, hearing stories about Dr. King, and providing opportunities for families to articulate their hopes and dreams.
The annual day of service is just one example of the ongoing collaboration between Virginia Wesleyan and its neighboring community, known as the Western Bayside College-Community Partnership.
The College, through its , provides volunteers for neighborhood tutoring, elementary reading and math programs, a youth garden club, professional development opportunities and more.