Eastern’s Office of Community Engagement is partnering with the Martin Luther King, Jr. Family Outreach Center to supply and coordinate volunteers for Spokane’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service.

At the MLK Day of Service event on Jan. 19, there will be 250 college students volunteering at 13 local-nonprofit sites, and about 150 of those students are from Eastern, said Molly Ayers, director of the EWU Office of Community Engagement, via email.

The Martin Luther King, Jr. Family Outreach Center is a nonprofit organization in Spokane, Washington. The Center “improves the quality of life for children, youth and families in Spokane through an array of culturally responsive educational and social services … ,” according to the website’s mission statement.

Gabby Ryan, Eagle volunteers program coordinator, said this is the second year Eastern has provided and helped coordinate volunteers for the MLK Day of Service event. She said the city reached out to Eastern last year to coordinate the service project portion of the MLK celebration week.

Ryan said the event begins at 10 a.m. with a unity rally, march and resource fair. She said the event will start with members of the community coming together to listen to guest speakers discuss King’s legacy and what it means for Spokane at the Spokane Convention Center. King’s entire speech will be shown, not just the “I Have a Dream” speech portion.

“The speakers … are really amazing. So it’s very educational but also inspirational,” said Ryan.

The service portion of the event is from 1-4 p.m. when volunteers will then go out to the 13 nonprofit sites to offer their time.