YSU students give back at ServiceFest
YSU students give back at ServiceFest

020425...R YSU SERVICE FEST 1...Youngstown...02-04-25...YSU students Nevaeh Richard of Farrell, PA., left, and Monneka Henry of Nassau, Bahamas, work together to create a snuffle mat during the YSU Service Fest Tuesday...by R. Michael Semple
YOUNGSTOWN — Besides being Youngstown State University students, Sophia Misel, Hannah Diaz, Yenice Alejandro and Ava Hoso are united by a desire to better their communities while paying homage to one of the nation’s most iconic and endearing figures.
“We were making tie blankets to go to the Dorothy Day House for a lot of the residents there, or for different homeless shelters in the area so people can be warm,” Misel, a YSU junior majoring in political science and philosophy, said.
The blankets were made mostly of fleece, complemented with colorful patterns, added Misel, whose long-term goal is to be an immigration lawyer or practice in some aspect of international law.
In the meantime, she was perfecting the blankets as part of YSU’s ServiceFest gathering Tuesday in the university’s Chestnut Room at Kilcawley Center.
Sponsoring the gathering were YSU Eats, the Sokolov Honors College, Kilcawley Center, the Office of Belonging, Empowerment and Engagement, the Black Student Union, Student Activities and the Office of the Dean of Students.
The three-hour event was largely to honor and tap into Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy that included service and giving back to others. The gathering had been scheduled for Jan. 21, the day after the national Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, but severe cold weather forced YSU to close, Kathy Leeper, Kilcawley Center’s associate director who organizes student events, said.
“I work on campus, so my boss told me, ‘Sophia, this would be a great opportunity for you,'” Misel said about how she was introduced to ServiceFest.
Also assisting her with the blanket project was Diaz, Misel’s roommate who is from Akron and also is majoring in philosophy and political science.
King dedicated his life to working “for the greater good for all people,” something that takes on heightened urgency and importance in this political climate, said Diaz, who also is part of YSU’s Alpha Xi Delta sorority.
In that regard, she and other sorority members perform volunteer work such as making comfort kits for children in foster care, Diaz added.
Helping to fill more than 100 small white bags with toothpaste, deodorant and other personal hygiene products was Alejandro, who came to the Mahoning Valley from Puerto Rico and is studying civil engineering.
“I’m big on community service, which Martin Luther King was into,” she said. “We can’t ignore society’s problems and a system that allows people to be broke and hungry.”
Alejandro, a YSU freshman, added that civil engineering is attractive because she hopes to learn ways to fix such challenges, as well as remove certain barriers that make the lives of people who are homeless more difficult.
A straightforward desire to better the community drove Hoso, of Warren, to Tuesday’s ServiceFest. For her part, Hoso, a freshman majoring in pre-nursing, volunteers at the Animal Welfare League of Trumbull County in Vienna, where she walks the dogs and maintains the animals’ enclosures.
Area charities that will receive the blankets and bags include the Dorothy Day House, the Rescue Mission of the Mahoning Valley, United Way of Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley, Sojourner House Domestic Violence Shelter and the Ursuline Sisters of Youngstown, Leeper noted.
In addition, students were introduced to a large timeline of major occurrences in King’s life that included the Montgomery Bus Boycott from December 1955 to January 1957, the Aug. 28, 1963, March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom and his advocating for 1,300 striking sanitation workers in Memphis, Tennessee, where the civil rights leader and humanitarian was assassinated April 4, 1968, at age 39.
Those who spoke to the students and others were Majaurice Williams and Juilian Johnson, both Black Student Union members; Kyler Morgan, a recent YSU graduate and former BSU member; and the Rev. J.P. Robles, co-pastor of Sacred Commons Church in Youngstown.