MyLU Insider

Michelle Buchinger

Author: Michelle Buchinger

MLK Day of Service-January 17th, 2022

Lawrence University’s annual MLK, Jr. Day of Service invites the entire campus community to participate in fellowship through service, dedicating our efforts to Dr. King and his legacy of community, equality, and activism.

Students, staff, and faculty will honor the efforts of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. through education, service, and celebration. Being involved in these special programs will give each of us an opportunity to learn, advocate, and engage alongside one another – creating a deeper sense of community for us all.

For a full list of the day’s programs, please see the schedule of events (below and linked here). Register using the links provided below or visit: https://bit.ly/LU_MLK_2022.

If you have any questions, comments, or press inquiries regarding this year’s programs, please email community.engagement@lawrence.edu.

Educational Programming:
9:00am-10:30am: “Black, White, and (Un)Read”: Exploring how media can ignore and misrepresent minority audiences, on- and off-campus (VIRTUAL).

11:00am-12:00pm: Mapping MLK’s Legacy Through Geographies of Oppression, Radical Protest, and Ecofuturism.

12:00pm-1:00pm: Interdisciplinary Discussion of Dr. King’s Rhetoric.

Service Programming:
1:00pm-4:30pm:
Thanks to our new partnership with Volunteer Fox Cities, we are able to offer a mix of in-person, remote, and virtual service opportunities for students, faculty, and staff. These projects include, but are not limited to:
*Digital Document Transcription for the Smithsonian
*Preparing a meal for a local homeless shelter
*Winter cleaning at a local food pantry
*Writing greeting/thank you cards to local nonprofit staff Supporting a local clean energy campaign
*Participating in a virtual “read aloud” program

For a full list of afternoon service opportunities, please visit our GivePulse page.

NOTE: Due to the increase of local Covid-19 positives, additional precautions have been taken. We have verified the risk-management protocols at our off-campus sites, and ALL registrants will be provided with proper PPE, including N95 face coverings.

31st Annual FOx Cities MLK Day Celebration:
6:00pm-7:30pm: Our programming will conclude with the annual Fox Cities MLK Day Celebration keynote address. This year’s keynote speaker is Judge Yadira Rein, the first person of color to serve as a judge in Outagamie County.
Sponsored by Lawrence University, City of Appleton, United Way Fox Cities, Appleton Area School District, and African Heritage, Inc.; ft. the LU Concert Choir.
This event will be online and you must register to attend. Please RSVP by January 14th, 2022. Register here!


Lawrence University’s New Partnership with Valley Transit

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT! We are thrilled to announce that Valley Transit is now partnering with Lawrence University! This new pilot program will allow students to use Valley’s services for free if they provide their student ID.

“I am grateful to Valley Transit for their partnership, which will make a meaningful difference in the lives of our students and their engagement with our surrounding community,” said Lawrence University President Laurie Carter.

Valley Transit’s mission is to connect our communities through customer-focused transportation. “Our team works hard each day to help people find their place in the community by eliminating transportation barriers,” said Valley Transit general manager, Ron McDonald. “This new partnership is truly a community-driven effort to expand access.”

Click here to read the full press release from Valley Transit: https://myvalleytransit.com/…/valley-transit-and…/

💰 GIVEAWAY OPPORTUNITY! LU students – Post a photo of yourself at a bus stop during winter term and tag @LUCareersandCommunity and @ValleyTransit to be entered into a drawing for one of three $25 gift cards.

🚌 For more information on Valley Transit services and routes, please visit their website. HTTPS://myvalleytransit.com

❓ For more information on how to ride the bus, please reach out to one of our certified Travel Trainers in the CCE, the Diversity & Intercultural Center, Spiritual & Religious Life, Residential Education, or Wellness Services.

✅ Any other questions can be directed to community.engagement@lawrence.edu.

Ride Valley Transit Free with your Student ID. Win $25 when you ride during winter term. Post a photo of you on the bus or at a bus stop and tag @lucareersandcommunity and @valleytransit to be entered into a drawing to win one of three $25 gift cards. Working hard to keep all riders and drivers safe. Masks required. Driver barriers. Air purification systems. Buses sanitized nightly.

Fox Valley Literacy Orientation

Do you like tutoring and want to get connected within the Appleton community? Or are you interested in tutoring but don’t have any background in tutoring and maybe don’t know where to start? Well have no fear, an amazing opportunity is here!

The Fox Valley Literacy will be on campus in the cinema on October 25th at 4 pm to host an orientation for their tutoring program.

Volunteers will complete this first session of training, and a second session on their own, to be trained as a volunteer tutor to teach reading, writing, and math fundamentals at a high school equivalency, civics/citizenship, and English language learning. No background in tutoring or foreign languages is necessary!

We hope to see you there!

Register HERE!

For Our Future WI: Orientation/ Volunteering Opportunity

Are you interested in public policy, issue advocacy, community organizing, and/or general civic engagement opportunities? If so, join For Our Future WI on October 27th, 2021 at 6PM via Zoom for one of our three virtual introductory events.

This event will take place in the Warch Campus Center-Hurvis Room 224. You can also watch this orientation remotely on your own device as well. Zoom link to come!

Register HERE!

For Our Future 101 (FOF101) will allow you the opportunity to learn more about For Our Future WI in-depth from some of our Senior Organizers.

Our ThruTalk Training will teach interested individuals how to use the ThruTalk system to volunteer with For Our Future WI.

Our ThruText Training will likewise teach interested individuals how to use the ThruText system to volunteer with For Our Future WI.

All of these virtual events allow you the ability to connect directly with our Senior Organizers and learn how you can best get involved and take action.

Join us at the Community Engagement Fair this Friday!

Join us on Friday, September 17th for our Annual Community Engagement Fair! We’ve invited nearly two dozen of our community partners to campus to showcase their very good work in the Fox Cities.


Come and chat with representatives from some of our oldest and closest partners to discover how you might engage in service during your time at Lawrence.
In addition to tables and activities hosted by our partners, there will be carnival style games, food trucks, live music, and a chance to win a $50 gift from Amazon! The first 300 Lawrentians to register at the event will also receive a coupon for a free fruit pop from Fox Pop!


Festivities start at 5:30pm at the Quad. If it is raining-we will have the fair set up in the Esch Hurvis Room (2nd floor in Warch Campus Center)

See you there!

CCE Community Appreciation Event

The CCE is hosting an outdoor event, and everyone is welcome! This Community Appreciation event will be Friday, May 7th from 11am – 2pm, right outside of the CCE office (Wriston turnaround). There will be yard games, service activities such as making dog toys to donate and writing cards for people you appreciate. We will also be collecting donations for World Relief Fox Valley and when you donate you can get a popsicle as a thank you! Mark your calendars and come join the fun!

Join the CCE Team!

Are you someone who enjoys community service and social change? Well, the CCE is the office for you and we are hiring! There are three positions open for applications for the 21-22 school year. These positions include service shuttle driver, office manager and environment and sustainability service corps coordinator. Read a little more about them:

Service shuttle driver will drive LU students to volunteer opportunities in the Fox Cities community. Most shifts will take place between weeks 2-10 of each term, primarily on Saturdays & Sundays. We are seeking regular drivers to commit to 2 Saturdays/month or those interested in being on ‘stand by’ for weekday requests or as substitutes for weekend needs. You will be paid from drop off to pick up and are able to do your homework in between driving.

The Office Manager position will support the mission of the CCE by providing organizational and communication support internally and externally for the department. This position will work as a member of the 4 person Office Manager team to provide logistical support to the director/department while performing a wide variety of tasks in support of student volunteer programs. The Office Manager position will work approximately 10 hours/week.

The Service Corps Program Coordinator – Environment & Sustainability reports to the Director of the Center for Community Engagement & Social Change. The coordinator will work with the CCE Director and sustainability focused organizations within the LU and Fox Cities Communities to promote environmental/sustainability focused programming, initiatives, and outreach. The coordinator will work approximately 10 hrs/week.

Log in to your Handshake account (lawrence.joinhandshake.com) and look under “on-campus” in the jobs tab for more information on how to apply.

Join a Spring Term VASE Program!

Are you looking to get more involved on campus and in the community? There is still time to applying for our VASE programs next term! The Viking Ambassadors in Service and Engagement (VASE) is a great way to volunteer and get involved on campus and in the Appleton area. Spring term program areas including Access to Education, Environment and sustainability and Child Advocacy. Feel free to email us if you have any questions community.engagement@lawrence.edu Deadline to apply is March 24, 2021 at: https://www.lawrence.edu/students/volunteer/vase/vase-sign-up

CCE Bingo Night!

On Sunday February 28th at 7pm, the Center for Community Engagement and Social Change (CCE) will be hosting a virtual and in-person bingo night. Through bingo, we hope to bring awareness to various volunteer opportunities and services the CCE has to offer students. In addition, the top bingo winners will receive prizes!

In-person bingo will be in the Somerset room in the Warch Campus center and virtual bingo will be over zoom. To reserve a spot or get the link for zoom, go to GivePulse to register: https://givepul.se/v9hiku

We hope to see you there!

MLK Jr. Day of Service

MLK Jr. Day is a day on, not a day off. Are you looking to get involved this MLK day of service? On January 18th, there will be four events offered that all members of the LU community are invited to participate in. Be sure to check out the GivePulse page on how to register: Lawrence.givepulse.com and click “events”.  From here you can find and learn more about the four events that will be offered on MLK day. Registration for events will close at 11:59pm the Sunday before MLK Day.

Events will be as follows:

-Community book read on Heavy by Kiese Laymon (10:00am-11:00am)

-Disability Policy and Advocacy discussion led by Alexandra Chand ’21 & The Disability Working Group (1:00pm-2:30pm)

-Anti-Racist Strategies and Solutions discussion hosted by Kye Harris ’21 (2:45pm-4:00pm)

-Music For All MLK concert hosted by Jacob Dikelsky ’22 & Music For All (4:00pm-5:10pm)

-MLK Jr Day Virtual Celebration (6:00pm)

Also, keep an eye out on January 16th, we will be taking over the @lawrenceuniversity story to talk more about the MLK day events and hear from the event planners themselves!

As a part of the Lawrence community, many staff and faculty interact with students in one specific way. Participating in this day will give staff and faculty an opportunity to interact with students in new capacities and get to know them in a setting outside of the classroom or workplace. Volunteering on MLK Jr. Day provides an opportunity for you to:

* Give something back to an organization that has improved our community

* Make a difference to the lives of others (including our students!)

* Address disparities of access to basic human rights

*  Step away from work to think about your own commitment to civic engagement

Dr. King sacrificed everything to strive for equity. Who will do the work on this national day of service? All are welcome. Special thanks to all those who worked tirelessly to make this year’s MLK Day of Service for Lawrence University a success even when this year’s programming and events will look a bit different than they have in year’s past.