Our hearts are full this week after experiencing the amazing impact from Operation Uplift’s volunteer event at the George Washington Carver Museum and Cultural Center. This weekend was more than a 3 day weekend off of school or work. It was a time where our community came together through Operation Uplift, fought against the weeds and the dust, and gave the George Washington Carver Museum and Cultural Center what it needed to become a place where people can remember the history of the Civil Rights Movement, segregation, and Martin Luther King Jr.’s spirit right in the heart of Phoenix. MLK Jr.’s underlying message to unite against poverty and discrimination through service was felt throughout the hallways as volunteers flooded through and offered their helping hands. Our community came together and kept his dream alive and moving.
Accompanied by Calvin Goode, a 1945 graduate from Carver High School who was on the Phoenix’s City Council when the building was re-purchased in the 90’s to become the Museum and Cultural Center, over 200 volunteers put their gloves, hard hats, and masks on to get down to business and celebrate Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy. They transformed 3 large rooms, organized donations in the storage warehouse, raked 30 tons of rock all around the front of the building, plucked weeds, re-constructed the library ceiling, and a community came together.
”I feel like we are all are part of a community, like brothers and sisters.” – Suzanna Valenzuela, Phoenix College
“He stood for helping others, and for justice for all… Helping populations in a community; helping them grow.” – Rachel Hom, Barrett Student Services at Arizona State University
“The spirit of MLK shows that the dream is still alive, and it still has a demand, a demand that we should keep it alive and keep it moving forward.” -Tikki Carmichael, USAA
If you want to find out more about Operation Uplift and upcoming events, visit vsuw.org/uplift.
“If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as a Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, ‘Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.’” – Martin Luther King Jr.
To learn more about the George Washington Carver Museum & Cultural Center, please visit: https://gwcmccaz.wordpress.com/
