“Everyone can be great, because everyone can serve.” Martin Luther King, Jr.
This past Monday, January 15, the Curtner Elementary PTA, in partnership with Curtner Elementary School, hosted their 2nd annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service. Twenty Curtner families participated in the event, which consisted of working on several service projects.
“Working together builds and strengthens our school community. It allows students and their families to meet friends while working towards a common goal,” stated Vidhya Balu, a PTA parent who helped to organize the event.
Parents and children worked together to assemble hygiene kits for Hope for the Unhoused. Others were outdoors, participating in the assembly of soccer goal posts on Curtner’s field. Greeting cards were also written up for the Cards for Hospitalized Kids organization.
Coats and sweaters were collected for CityTeam San Jose, and used books were collected for the Curtner Community and Milpitas Library.
Balu and PTA member Sweta Iyer worked closely with Curtner Principal Kevin Slavin to lead the MLK Day event.
“We are lucky to have a very supportive school community and PTA that allowed us to put this event together,” shared Balu.
MUSD Board Trustee Rob Jung and Milpitas City Councilmember Hon Lien attended the event and thanked the attending families for all of their efforts.
By the end of the event, the group had collected 575 books, along with 110 coats and sweaters. In addition, 74 hygiene kits were assembled, 33 cards with uplifting messages were written, and 6 soccer goal posts were assembled.
“It’s important for events such as these to help embed a deep sense of empathy and responsibility in our students and our families,” shared Principal Slavin. “Through these service projects, we honor Dr. King’s legacy and nurture a spirit of kindness and active citizenship that will shape our students into the compassionate leaders of the future.”
