About 50 volunteers from the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley joined day-to-day operations at Brownsville’s Good Neighbor Settlement House on Monday, the National Day of Service honoring civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Karen Castillo, a senior special education major from Brownsville was one of them. She said she had been unaware of the GNSH, and that she was glad she had volunteered during the national service day.
“It’s a really welcoming environment. They help you a lot here,” she said of the services provided at the community agency at 1254 E. Tyler St. Castillo and other UTRGV volunteers spent part of the morning bagging sack lunches for people in need of a meal who were due to start arriving around noon.
Astrid Dominguez, executive director, said the Good Neighbor Settlement House serves people in need in a variety of ways.
“We’re a soup kitchen, we’re a food pantry, we have our welcome center downtown. The soup kitchen serves about 100 people per meal, breakfast, lunch, dinner, and our shower program, which is only for unsheltered clients, and our laundry program, those serve like around 30-40 people every day,” she said.
In all, about 100 UTRGV students, staff and faculty volunteered their time to four social causes across the Valley in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his vision of a “beloved community.”
Congress passed the King Holiday and Service Act in 1994, designating the Martin Luther King Jr. federal holiday as a National Day of Service.
In the Valley, UTRGV volunteers helped prepare and serve, wash dishes and clean tables at the Loaves and Fishes kitchen in Harlingen, which supports those experiencing a life-altering events that take away their ability to afford life’s necessities.
At the Salvation Army soup kitchen in McAllen, volunteers prepared and served food, while also helping hang clothes, restock shelves and cleaning at the agency’s family store. Volunteers in the warehouse helped move and sort donated goods.
Restlawn Cemetery is believed to be the only graveyard in Hidalgo County dedicated for burials for African Americans, according to a Texas Historical Marker on site. Volunteers contributed to maintaining the dignity of the space by repainting fences, cleaning and maintaining the landscaping.
In Brownsville, volunteers helped prepare, serve and clean up after the evening sit-down meal, which only recently restarted after being curtailed because of the pandemic.
“Having more hands on deck is always helpful,” Dominguez said of the help from UTRGV, adding that community volunteers in general are an important part of GNSH.
