Whether it’s delivering food to those in need, sorting medicines, or listening to inspirational words from award-winning actors, the OUWB community is serving others on Monday and Martin Luther King Jr. .
Nearly 30 OUWB medical students volunteered at the Greeners Community Food Bank’s Detroit Distribution Center, and another 10 or so OUWB community representatives helped serve breakfast at Pontiac’s Baldwin Center. Both have benefited those in need.
Monday’s volunteers joined another 30 people from OUWB who volunteered at World Medical Relief in Southfield on Saturday, plus another six people helped prepare and serve meals at Detroit’s Capuchin Soup Kitchen.
Others attended the University of Auckland’s 31st Annual Keeper of the Dream Scholarship Awards Celebration. The celebration included inspiring messages about the ability of communities to make a difference.
“I am so proud of the OUWB community,” said Dr. Tonya Bailey, Associate Dean of Diversity & Inclusion and Community Engagement.
“The work we are doing will help secure Dr. King’s legacy and, like so many other civil rights leaders and humanitarians, remind us of what we can achieve together. They will help you.”
Trixy Hall, coordinator of graduate programs and community outreach, said it’s all about giving back and remembering King. Hall coordinates a variety of events with her partners in her OUWB community, including faculty, staff and students volunteering for the Martin Luther King Jr. National Day of Service.
“We want to make sure we’re doing our part in the community,” she said. It is important.”
“An opportunity to give back…”
| Sachin Pathangey, M1 sorts items at Gleaners in Detroit. |
Medical students who volunteered at Gleaners helped prepare food for distribution. They also helped sort the items and load the food into the car.
Gleaners agency relations manager Mollie Allard said she hopes the group will help serve 60 to 80 families on Monday. Having volunteers like OUWB is important, she said.
“We rely heavily on the efforts of volunteers to make our daily work happen,” she said. “Having a large group makes a big difference, especially on rationing days when we’re trying to distribute as much food as possible.”
Chennai Marcus, M1 was among the volunteers. She said that as a child she had benefited from such services.
“This is an opportunity for me to give back, especially now that I don’t have to go through that experience,” she said. “I understand why people need this and the importance of volunteering.” .”
M1’s Hoon Oh said volunteering at events like this is especially important to him as a future doctor.
“It really reminds you why you went into medicine, which is to serve,” he said. It gives us time to really reflect.”
Breakfast at the Baldwin Center
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| OUWB students helped prepare breakfast at the Baldwin Center. |
At Pontiac, students spent the morning at the Baldwin Center, one of OUWB’s longtime community partners.
The Baldwin Center is a non-profit organization that has been providing food, clothing, after-school programs and more to locals in need for over 40 years.
On January 16th, the students made breakfast to distribute to over 100 people.
“I think it’s best to give back if you can, since you’ve been given time off,” said M3’s Victoria Whiting. “Our schedule has capacity, and that’s what we’re going for today.”
Joining the community will help the future of medicine, Whiting said.
“I think you have a responsibility to understand the community you serve,” she said. .”
M1 Maggie Bailey said she felt the opportunity was a great way to get out of the classroom and get involved in the community.
“As an M1, I spend most of my time in the classroom. I enjoy spending time with the community and my classmates,” she said.
Kaitlyn Quach (M1) echoed a similar sentiment.
‘It’s hard to find an opportunity to escape’ [from the classroom] sometimes. So every time it happens, we jump on it,” she said.
“And this is a great way to do it.”
OUWB’s Stephan Sharf Dean Duane Mezwa, M.D., and Service Learning Director Jean Szura, Ph.D., were also in the kitchen, making gravy, biscuits, scrambled eggs, and sausages.
“This is a perfect example of why you can do more than just study medicine,” Mezwa said. “It’s also the art and practice of caring for our peers, and being here and volunteering is how we can do that.”
Heather Duenas, deputy director of the Baldwin Center, said it was great to see OUWB students and faculty back.
“Every individual that a future doctor, nurse, or someone in the medical field comes into contact with will have a different backstory,” she said. It’s really big.”
“Participatory Democracy”
More than 700 people gathered on campus for the University of Auckland’s 31st Annual Keeper of the Dream Scholarship Awards Celebration.
Established in 1993, the event honors King’s legacy as a civil rights representative. This award honors a student who has contributed to his legacy of interracial understanding and goodwill. Over the last 30 years, over 100 students have been awarded Keeper of the Dream scholarships totaling over $500,000.
Award-winning actor and best-selling author Hill Harper was the keynote speaker. Harper currently stars as Dr. Marcus Andrews on ABC’s The Good Doctor. He also co-executive produced “Protector of the Gods”, his trilogy film project that follows his three most powerful pharaohs in Egypt. Harper has previously appeared on ‘CSI: New York’ and he has appeared on Showtime’s award-winning series ‘Homeland’ and headlined HLN’s ‘How It Really Happened with Hill Harper’.
His main message centered around the need for community members to realize that they can make a difference.
“Our democracy is … a participatory democracy,” Harper said. “But it only works if we participate.”
He urged the audience to essentially remember King’s words when considering whether they can make a difference.
“Dr. King submits to you that he believes you and I are not operating at the level of power or energy necessary to move our community and country in the direction that is needed.”
“We submit to you that we need to raise our energies…increase our ability to speak truth to power, increase our cohesion, uplift our communities, and force change.
Several people from the OUWB community participated.
Among them was Ben Schwartz, MD, president of Corewell Health East. Addressing social harm to health is a priority for him, he said, and events like Monday’s serve as a reminder of the overall mission.
“To make a community better, we need to understand it better,” says Schwartz. “As today’s speaker pointed out, it starts with multiple small efforts … not big promises of action.”
Schwartz also praised OU for being “an amazing leader in its field” and the students recognized for receiving scholarships.
“To be able to participate in this event is very special for all of us,” he said.
Mezwah, who spent the morning at the Baldwin Center, also attended. He called Harper’s presentation “amazing”.
“He was very motivating,” he said. Plus, it’s a great event to honor a truly special student. The fact that OU has been doing it for his 30+ years is pretty awesome. ”
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