Fenton Resident Proud to Honor King

FLINT — Brandon Mattila didn't want to miss a chance to make a difference.

Mattila, 18, of Fenton, was one of several members of his fraternity, Theta Chi, to volunteer at Carriage Town Ministries. The effort was a natural for the group because the fraternity house is across the street from the homeless shelter.

"In this area there's always stuff to be done and a lot of people in need," said Mattila, who helped sort clothes. "It's MLK Day … It's important to follow in his footsteps."

Matilla was one of about 170 University of Michigan-Flint students, faculty and staff who fanned out across Genesee County to help at nine nonprofit organizations for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, said Jessie Hurse, UM-Flint director of student life.

"It's important for students to connect with their community," Hurse said. "Students would tell me once they are done how they never really understood about foster children or the homeless or how different animal shelters and the struggles they have."

The help is appreciated.

Trina Frazier, Carriage Town's director of community and family services, said the volunteers help speed sorting of donations that included 5,000 pieces of clothes from an area store and 1,500 jackets from an area Aeropastle store — an effort that otherwise would take several weeks.

"We need the help," she said. "I just thank God this group came in and volunteered for us. … We're in need of volunteers desperately."

In Fenton, a group from UM-Flint helped out the local Adopt-A-Pet by cleaning the facility, including cages, walls, floors and stairs. Some also walked dogs.

"It's amazing," said Ron Morey, a board member of the nonprofit. "These people who came out here today, they almost ran out of work, they worked so hard."

Erica Burns, who works in the ITS Department, said it's important that people don't forget pets.

"They need attention," said Burns, who was volunteering at Adopt-A-Pet for the third straight year. "People always go to the people shelter. Pets need to be cared for, too."

Erika Behm of Hartland joked she was volunteering on Martin Luther King Jr. Day just for extra credit.

And while the 36-year-old UM-Flint social work junior and mother of three plans to write a paper about her experience helping out at the Shelter of Flint, she said the day is really about breaking out of her comfort zone as a volunteer and honoring King's universal message of helping communities.

"I've never been in a homeless shelter," said Behm, who is the state ombudsman for the Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve and is currently advocating for a special court for homeless veterans in Detroit. "If I'm going to be working with homeless veterans and I need to understand their plight, so today is a good day for that.

"It's 365 days, not just one day, to me."

Behm moved slowly down a stairwell cleaning the steps at the homeless shelter. Volunteering is important to her because she says she is motivated to give back because of support she received during two major crises as a teenager — she attempted suicide at 14 and she became a single mother at age 18.

Stoking problems at home, she said, was her father, a Vietnam veteran, who suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder. After he was treated, they began working together to help veterans and their families by helping to educate them about the services that exist.

Behm said her experience in volunteering hits on the larger dream of King, where people recognize the humanity in each other regardless of race. She said that's why should encourage people to give their time in their communities.

"If you don't volunteer you don't understand the appreciation behind volunteering," she said. "Everybody should volunteer — whether it's with their church or their school, whatever small way because as cliche as it sounds, it comes back to you 10 fold."

Editor's note: Christofer Machniak currently teaches part-time for the UM-Flint journalism program.