Valdosta State University celebrates the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. with community service projects, a worship service, and a march this weekend.
 
From 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, VSU students will gather on campus for a special Day of Service project, making cards and therapeutic fidget blankets to help reduce the anxiety often experienced by individuals under hospice care. The students will also help save lives by donating blood through the LifeSouth bloodmobile.
 
At 3 p.m. on Sunday, VSU hosts a worship service in the Student Union Ballroom. The guest speaker is Adrian Rivers, senior pastor of Kingdom Builders Deliverance Center, program coordinator for Choices for Life Georgia, vice president of Lowndes Associated Ministries to People Inc., founder and host of Let’s Talk Live Radio on 107.9 The Beat, and Blazer Nation alumnus. This event is open to the public.   
 
At 10:15 a.m. on Monday, the Mu Omicron chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc. and the student chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People host a march to commemorate King’s contributions to the Civil Rights movement and the progress the country achieved during that decades-long struggle — and to recognize the ongoing pursuit for social justice that continues today. This event is open to the public.
 
Born in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1929, King became the iconic face of the Civil Rights Movement in the mid-1900s, dedicating his life to ending racial injustice in the United States until his assassination in 1968.
 
“King sought equality and human rights for African Americans, the economically disadvantaged, and all victims of injustice through peaceful protest,” according to History.com. “He was the driving force behind watershed events such as the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the 1963 March on Washington, which helped bring about such landmark legislation as the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act. King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 and is remembered each year on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a U.S. federal holiday since 1986.”
 
VSU’s Martin Luther King Jr. celebration is presented by the Department of Student Diversity and Inclusion, the Department of Student Leadership and Volunteer Services, the student chapter of the NAACP, and the Mu Omicron chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc.