The Student Community Service office will be having its annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service on Monday.

The service to commemorate Martin Luther King Jr. will be from 1 to 4 p.m.

Rachel Fisher, the director of the Student Community Service office, said this is the 26th anniversary of the Martin Luther King Jr. federal holiday.

“Since 1994 it has been highly encouraged to be a day of service,” Fisher said. “So here at the university the last few years, our office has coordinated MLK Jr. Day of Service.”

Fisher said there are different projects that will interest the many different students on campus.

“This year is by far the richest year of service we have,” Fisher said. “We have nine service projects.”

The projects range from seed sorting, to making teddy bears, to giving an elementary school a makeover. Volunteers will help sort clothes and donations at the Catholic Charities.

The Charleston Fire Department will also work with volunteers to hand out fire safety kits to the community.

Volunteers will help paint, organize and clean Standing Stone, a new community donation center.

“What’s great about Standing Stone is they take in donations and they just give it right back to people,” Fisher said. “It’s not a thrift store, it is just come and take what you need.”

Ashmore Elementary School will also get a makeover by volunteers. Students will be painting, cleaning, sorting and helping in other ways.

Students can also volunteer to help with the International Humanitarian Law speech. The speech will be about ways the United States can help make a difference internationally.

“This is a example of what I would call intellectual service,” Fisher said. “You help there and you gain a better understanding of an issue or cause, so you can move forward with it.”

Volunteers will also be taken to a local nature center and hospital, but these events are full.

Also, volunteers will be taken to Douglas-Hart Nature Center to help with seed sorting, painting and other projects throughout the center.

Pediatric patients at Sarah Bush Lincoln Health Center will receive teddy bears that volunteers will stuff and sew together.

Fisher said students who help with the projects will help pay respect to Martin Luther King Jr. but they will also learn from it.

“Part of what service is helping the community,” Fisher said. “But it is also empowering yourself with knowledge, a better understanding of the world around you.”

Fisher said they will announce their MLK Service marathon.

“It is the 26th anniversary of this holiday, so we are asking students for 26 hours of service,” Fisher said.

Students who participate in this marathon will receive prizes throughout the marathon.

Students who are interested in participating in any of the event can register at http://www.eiu.edu/volunteer/.

Transportation will be provided to all of the volunteer sites and students should bring a sack lunch.

Check-in will be at 12:30 p.m. in the Grand Ballroom in the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union.

Fisher said this service helps students to live up to the ideas of the day.

“What’s great is we are truly living up to the legacy,” Fisher said. “He inspired us in words, he led us in deeds, now we live the legacy.”

Samantha McDaniel can be reached at 581-2812 or slmcdaniel@eiu.edu.