FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WFFT) -- It’s a common theme in neighborhoods across the country, instead of taking the day to relax people giving back to their community on the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
People from the Oxford neighborhood on Fort Wayne's southeast side, along with help from the United Way of Allen County and Indiana Tech got together at the Oxford Community Association Building to help clear out the space.
Neighborhood association president Diane Rogers says people coming out to help restore the building as a hub for unity and growth is something Dr. King would have wanted.
"The main thing is that we are coming together. We’re communicating, sharing ideas and we’re supporting each other," Rogers said. "That’s what he wanted all of us to do, regardless of our walk of life."
Those who came out from Indiana Tech on Monday say volunteering is a way to make communities stronger.
Brianna Strozier, a student at Indiana Tech says, "I believe volunteering is a way to give back to your community and build within your own community to make it better so you can go out and help other communities."
Fellow student Vi Trinh says, "Just trying to help people or the community to do better with whatever resources they need."
English professor Carrie Duke says Indiana Tech places an importance on volunteering and improving your community.
Duke says, "It makes you feel good to be a part of the community."
Coming together as a community is something Rogers says everyone who helped out today shares with Dr. King, and as these people from different walks of life came together and took action to improve the neighborhood, even only a little, Rogers says they were living the dream of King.
Rogers says, "He was a man of action and we need to be a community of action. We need to be a family of action, we need to be the country of action. I know we have a lot of things going on, but there’s more of us working together than fighting against each other and that needs to stand out more than anything.”
Rogers explained the hope is for this building to eventually become a place where the neighborhood can come and plan out their future, together.
