Martin Luther King Jr. Day 2021: Texas Tech medical students volunteer to help in El Paso

Students from Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso are volunteering at community service events in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day 2021.

On Saturday, volunteers at San Juan Diego Catholic Church with help from Texas Tech students took part in a drive-thru food distribution at the church in Montana Vista.

Student and church volunteers opened boxes of food and drinks and loaded vehicles.

Students from the Texas Tech Health Sciences Center come together each year during the weekend of Martin Luther King Jr. Day to help the El Paso community, Mariah Perkins, a student volunteer from the Paul L. Foster School of Medicine, said.

“We’re just trying to make sure we’re helping out our El Paso community as best as we can,” Perkins said.

As part of the student organization called the Community Action, Research and Engaged Service Collaboration, otherwise known as CARES, TTUHSC El Paso students organized events that benefit El Paso and surrounding communities.

The first event of the 2021 Martin Luther King Jr. Day weekend was the drive-thru food distribution Saturday at San Juan Diego Catholic Church in the Montana Vista area.

About 100 vehicles lined up in an S-shaped line just before noon on Saturday to register for food distribution and pick up their first food care package of the year.

“Starting the new year we’re just re-registering everybody,” said Patricia DeLoera, the religious formation coordinator at the parish. Registrations are good for six months.

The parish, in a partnership with El Pasoans Fighting Hunger Food Bank, has been having food distribution events since March but had to stop in October because of COVID-19.

“We were doing food drives weekly up until October, but then we had to stop because that’s when the numbers started rising,” DeLoera said.

DeLoera said the parish is hoping to return to a weekly food distribution schedule while adhering to strict COVID-19 safety guidelines.

In addition to the drive-thru food distribution on Saturday, TTUHSC El Paso conducted another event called “Project Good Apple,” where Clint and San Elizario Independent School District high school students and their families participated in an interactive nutrition webinar to learn how to make a healthy snacks and breakfasts.

TTUHSC El Paso students will also be volunteering at community events on Monday for Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service, including a drive-thru food distribution in Canutillo, a virtual coloring event with children in daycare centers and students writing letters to senior citizens to help fight isolation.