Moorestown Friends Marks MLK Day with Service Projects

Moorestown Friends School (MFS) students, faculty and parents will perform community service work together in observance of the national Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. holiday on Monday, Jan. 21. There is no school that day, but the school community comes together to celebrate Dr. King through service.

Volunteers of all ages will gather at 10 a.m. at the school and assemble in the Moorestown Friends Meeting House for a Quaker Meeting for Worship in honor of Dr. King. Following the meeting, keynote speaker and MFS Upper School Director Justin Brandon will provide keynote remarks that will mix his personal experiences and reflections with thoughts about the legacy of Dr. King.

Following his remarks, the students will begin service activities including creating birthday party bags for the Devereux Foundation Group Homes, preparing health kits to be delivered to New Visions and Samaritan Hospice, creating scarves for a local women’s shelter, creating Project Linus quilts for hospitalized children and sewing stuffed critters for Samaritan Hospice.

Faculty will offer cooperation games for young students and parents and third grade teacher Ted Quinn will lead activities related to his Peace Corps experience.

Justin Brandon was appointed MFS Upper School Director in 2012. Prior to that, he served as form dean and also taught history at Episcopal Academy in Newtown Square, PA. He previously worked at Mounds Park Academy in St. Paul, MN as diversity coordinator and as a social studies teacher. He also spent time at Episcopal School of Dallas and Culver Academies in Indiana. Brandon has served on the board of the Global Youth Leadership Institute since 2006 and as vice chair of the board since 2010, and also served on staff as a coordinator for the Wisconsin-based organization, which offers dynamic programs for students and teachers on topics that include pluralism and diversity, environmental awareness and school/community partnerships.

This is the 13th year MFS has scheduled community service activities as part of the King Day observance. In addition, some MFS families elect to spend the day on community service work organized through their own houses of worship and other organizations.

Courtesy of Moorestown Friends School