Volunteers, community members band together for MLK Day service project at Thanksgiving Point to combat child hunger
- Volunteers and community members pack food kits during a Martin Luther King Jr. Day service project at Thanksgiving Point’s Butterfly Biosphere on Monday Jan. 20, 2025.
- Food items to be included in meal kits for students in need await packaging during a Martin Luther King Jr. Day service project at Thanksgiving Point’s Butterfly Biosphere on Monday Jan. 20, 2025.
- Volunteers stand at a table where bags of food to be donated to kids facing hunger are assembled during a Martin Luther King Jr. Day service project at Thanksgiving Point’s Butterfly Biosphere on Monday Jan. 20, 2025.
- Volunteers and community members pack food kits during a Martin Luther King Jr. Day service project at Thanksgiving Point’s Butterfly Biosphere on Monday Jan. 20, 2025.
- Thanksgiving Point staff assist visitors during a Martin Luther King Jr. Day service project at Thanksgiving Point’s Butterfly Biosphere on Monday Jan. 20, 2025.
- Food items to be included in meal kits for students in need await packaging during a Martin Luther King Jr. Day service project at Thanksgiving Point’s Butterfly Biosphere on Monday Jan. 20, 2025.
- Volunteers and community members pack food kits during a Martin Luther King Jr. Day service project at Thanksgiving Point’s Butterfly Biosphere on Monday Jan. 20, 2025.
The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “Everybody can be great because everybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace, a soul generated by love.”
That sentiment was on full display Monday inside the Butterfly Biosphere science learning center at Thanksgiving Point in Lehi.
As an act of service in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, dozens of parents, children, students and volunteers participated in assembling 2,000 bags of nonperishable food items to be distributed to children experiencing hunger.
“Here at Thanksgiving Point, we’re all about kids and supporting them and helping curious kids to grow. We feel like a really important part of that is making sure that kids have the nutrition that they need,” said Stephen Ashton, senior director for Butterfly Biosphere and Curiosity Farms at Thanksgiving Point.
The organization has been hosting the food-packing event for the past six years on MLK Day in an effort to honor and celebrate the legacy of the Civil Rights leader, who dedicated his life to serving his community and making a difference.
“We’re really passionate about service, and we wanted to honor Dr. King and all the great things that he had done, where he had done so much to support his community,” Ashton told the Daily Herald.
Thanksgiving Point teamed up with the Five.12 Foundation, an Alpine-based organization that delivers weekend meals to children facing food scarcity, to fill bags with items like granola bars, macaroni and cheese kits and fruit snacks, as well as a STEM kit.
According to the Utah Food Bank, around 1 in 6 children across the state are food insecure, meaning roughly 143,000 are unaware of where their next meal will come from.
The meal kits will serve students in approximately 70 schools throughout Utah County, as well as a portion of Salt Lake and Juab counties.
Natalie Dalley, co-manager at the Five.12 Foundation, explained that the packages are delivered to the various school districts, where staff, teachers and administrators will identify students in need and distribute the food kits accordingly.
“We feed about 3,500 children a week,” Dalley said.
Hundreds of parents with school-aged children and teenagers funneled through the doors of the venue specifically for the volunteer opportunity, while others caught a glimpse of the kit assembly line and then jumped in to help.
“When they find out that there’s that service project going on, their kids get excited. And then they go through and they’ll put together a few food packages for kids, and then they’ll head into the Butterfly Biosphere,” Ashton explained.
Aubrey Bitter, a Lehi resident, participated in Thanksgiving Point’s service project last year and expressed gratitude for the chance to volunteer. She and her family returned for Monday’s event and noted it’s somewhat of a family tradition to serve on MLK Day, something they did previously in California.
“We moved from the Bay Area a year and a half ago, and we used to pick up garbage on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. So, (we) can’t do that anymore here. … It’s too cold,” Bitter said. “We’re just glad that there’s a service opportunity (here) that we get to do.”
Gregory Bitter, one of Aubrey’s three sons who came to volunteer their time during the service project, also acknowledged the importance of giving back.
“I feel like all of us don’t really do enough service for our day-to-day (life). I just feel like it’s nice that we’d be able to do something,” he said.
Eternity Anderson, a student at Brigham Young University, said she and her family have been participating in the day of service opportunity for several years, and she finds joy doing work that will have a lasting impact on children in need.
“There’s plenty of places all over the world that don’t have things like this, and it’s awesome to be a part of something where we can help them have something they can’t get on their own or can’t get for themselves,” said Anderson, who also noted that she’s personally benefited from similar organizations and programs.
Coincidentally, this year’s MLK Day also aligned with President Donald Trump’s return to the White House.
Inauguration Day events and the observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day have only fallen on the same day three other times.
The most recent was in 2013, when former President Barack Obama was inaugurated into his second term of office.
Bitter said their family is split on the incoming presidency but made sure to record the inauguration. She also noted the significance of the service in honoring Martin Luther King Jr. since it’s become a yearly ritual.
“I think it’s unfortunate, actually, that they couldn’t move the inauguration, because we’re supposed to be serving today,” Bitter said. “But we can do both right? I have a recording at home. We’ll go watch it later and get our service done in the morning.”
In efforts to further boost opportunities for children who may be less fortunate, Thanksgiving Point says Monday’s service project also was a part of its Every Kid Counts initiative, a program that offers free admission for kids in families receiving government nutrition benefits, with discounted rates for parents and teens.
“Five.12 Foundation is one of our nonprofit partners, and hosting this event helps bring awareness to their incredible mission and helps them continue to support Utah’s children,” Thanksgiving Point leaders said in a release.