Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service 

DHS KEYS AmeriCorps members celebrated Martin Luther King, Jr. Day 2012 by participating in two service projects to benefit children in Allegheny County.

On MLK Day, 90 KEYS members and staff assisted ASSET, Inc. with sorting and packaging hands-on science kits to be distributed to schools in the area. ASSET (Achieving Student Success through Excellence in Teaching) Inc., established in 1994, is an independent non-profit organization dedicated to continuously improve teaching and student learning, with an initial focus on Kindergarten through eighth-grade science education.

KEYS AmeriCorps members ‘get things done’ at ASSET Inc during the 2012 MLK Day of Service.

The MLK Day of Service will be extended through January and February as KEYS members at 22 of our host sites will assist youth with making no-sew, fleece blankets in collaboration with the Pittsburgh chapter of Project Linus. The finished blankets will be donated to hospitals and residential centers including Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, Magee-Womens Hospital of UPMC Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), UPMC Mercy NICU, The Children's Institute, The Bradley Center, Auberle, and Mars Home for Youth. Project Linus supplies home-made blankets to kids who are seriously ill, traumatized or otherwise in need.

KEYS members, Audrey Malone and Michaela Page, lead a training on how to make no-sew fleece blankets.

Donations invited

If you would like to help by donating fleece fabric or making a monetary donation, please email sabrina.hykes@alleghenycounty.us . Each blanket requires 1 1/4 yards of fleece. Fun patterns are especially desirable. 

Host sites where blankets will be made by youth:

AIU Lincoln Park Family Center
Braddock Youth Project
Brashear Association
Carnegie Library of Homestead
Crossroads Foundation
East End Cooperative Ministries
Gay & Lesbian Community Center of Pittsburgh
Goodwill of Southwestern Pa.
Holy Family Institute
Mt. Ararat Community Activity Center 
Pittsburgh CONNECTS Hilltop
Propel Braddock Hills Elementary and High School
Propel Homestead
Propel McKeesport
Propel Montour
Propel Northside
The Neighborhood Academy
Try Again Homes
University Prep
Urban Pathways Charter School
YMCA Centre Ave.
YMCA Hazelwood 

This MLK Day of Service project is funded in part by the Corporation for National and Community Service, the federal agency that strengthens communities through service.