Community service expo planned for Saturday ahead of MLK National Day of Service
The Riverhead Anti-Bias Task Force will host its first ever community service expo at Riverhead Free Library on Saturday Jan. 7.
The organization’s goal with the expo is to showcase the various nonprofits community members can volunteer with to participate in the National Day of Service on January 16 in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Although volunteering shouldn’t be limited to just that day, said chair of the Anti-Bias Task Force, Cindy Clifford.
“If you’ve never had a chance to volunteer, for whatever reason… I think that this Community Service Expo, will have something that makes you go, ‘I’d love to do that,’” Ms.Clifford said.
The event is part of a series of monthly social justice events the town Anti-Bias Task Force has been hosting at the library for the past year, she said. It will take place from 1 to 2:30 p.m. in the library’s browsing room.
The library’s director, Kerrie McMullen-Smith, said the library is honored to be the space to host these events.
“It’s great to be able to help,” Ms. McMullen-Smith said. “We want the community to know that we are there for them, but we also want to encourage community members to do volunteer work and help out other organizations; we’re all in it together.”
There will be eight different organizations participating. At the event, each organization will offer information about volunteer opportunities for community members which will cover a broad variety of interests.
“We’ve gotten a really great list of nonprofits together so that there’s this really spectacular variety,” Ms. Clifford said. “So, if anyone has ever thought about volunteering, now there are so many different options and we tried to make it so that there’s really something for everyone.”
Participating nonprofits include:
- The Butterfly Effect Project
- The Hallockville Museum Farm
- North Fork Animal Welfare League
- Open Arms Food Pantry
- Riverhead Community Awareness Program
- Sound Justice Initiative
- North Fork Kids Animal Rescue
- East End Arts
There will also be a create-a-card table for children to make cards that will be distributed to the area’s seniors, Ms. Clifford said. The organization hopes to repeat the event in the future.
“I would absolutely do this again if it warranted it,” she said. “I also think it’s really nice for the different nonprofits to get a little extra attention. Every one of them has something really significantly special, not just in their mission, but what they do for our community.”
