Roughly 50 students from the Arkansas Tech Career Center (ATCC) in Russellville spent hours on Friday at the Main Street Mission helping them prepare for the Thanksgiving rush coming this week.
“The students decided this year they wanted to help the Main Street Mission,” Bennie Byrd, instructor at the ATCC, said. “They recognize that the Main Street Mission does a tremendous amount for our community and they wanted to volunteer their efforts to help continue that service.”
According to Byrd, the students organized a food and clothing drive prior to Friday. They donated those items, helped sort them and other donations, helped get Thanksgiving food baskets ready, served food to the community and more.
The list of assignments came straight from the President of the Main Street Mission, Raul Torres. The students came to him to see what was needed and he quickly put them to work.
“It is truly amazing what these students are doing here today,” Torres said. “It is very helpful to have them here, especially right before Thanksgiving when many families are in need of a hot meal.”
“We came to the Main Street Mission to support our community and further the mission of the ATCC to provide the opportunity for each student to become a lifelong learner, as well as a productive, responsible citizen,” Byrd said.
This was not the only community event ATCC students were involved in last week. The culinary arts students served breakfast and lunch to Leadership Russellville last Thursday at the Chamber of Commerce. They also served lunch to the Arkansas Tech Dean’s Leadership Cabinet that same day.
For more information about the Arkansas Tech Career Center call (479) 968-5422 or visit www.atu.edu/careercenter. For more information on donating to the Main Street Mission or volunteering call (479) 968-8303 or visit www.mainstreetmission.org/v2/.
