As the 18 organizations participating in The Campus Kitchens Project’s MLK Day/Semester of Service finalize plans and fire up their ovens, hundreds of volunteers are readying to grab a fork and pitch in, holding inaugural meal services, jump-starting culinary training programs, carpooling to under served communities, and tilling gardens in honor of Martin Luther King Jr.

This year, over 900 volunteers are expected to produce over 12,000 meals. Some will use MLK Day, January 18, to kick off their projects. Others will spend the days to follow launching into their semesters of service. Regardless of the timeline, we can’t wait to hear the stories of success: how a child used a computer for the first time to explore the world of nutrition, how ex-offenders discovered a passion while preparing a community meal alongside professional chefs, or how a campus kitchen implemented its first meal service shift.

CKBU 2009 MLK Day of Service

What do the MLK Day grantees have to live up to? Read below for a summary of what happened last year, during CKP’s first MLK Day.

701 CKP volunteers logged over 3000 hours of service in their communities as part of the largest turnout ever for an MLK Day of Service.

We’re especially excited about the projects at our brand-new campus Kitchens at Baylor University, , University of Wisconsin at Eau Claire, Johns Hopkins University, and the University of Florida. They prepared food for community garden volunteers in Texas, deep cleaned a community table in Wisconsin, helped job seekers prepare resumes in Baltimore and served their very first CK meals in Florida.

At the University of Vermont, students renovated the dining hall at the local Food Shelf. They repainted the paneling and drew murals on three of the large panels, featuring pictures inspired by the book “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.”

Inspired by Obama’s impending inauguration, new volunteers made MLK day at St. Louis University’s Campus Kitchen one to remember.

What better way to honor the 80th birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr. and celebrate the inauguration of our very first African-American president than to answer their call to service? What better way to define our national character than to recycle waste? What better way to satisfy our spirits than to feed the hungry?

Where were you on MLK Day 2009?

Let us know what you’re planning for MLK Day 2010!

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