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My name is Harry Cheema. I’m a 24 year old and I serve with AmeriCorps as a part of City Year. The reason I think people are coming out to serve today is people really want to become a part of the community and have something invested in the community they live in. I moved down here a couple years ago and Washington, DC has really become my home and to have the opportunity to serve on such an important day like MLK Day to build his dream it’s great to see people come out invest time in their community. I think community is something tangible that they can have so that the community is more so theirs after they’ve worked in it. And people can come here and see the work they’ve done and realize that they made a difference in their community just as MLK would have liked them to do if he were still here. So it’s really powerful to see everyone come out and serve in their own community to help out the school, help out everyone that comes here and give them something to look at and smile about when they come into school tomorrow.

My name is Duncan Smith I’m with the law firm of Blank Rome and we have sponsored this outing today for everybody to come here to Roosevelt High School to help clean-up and do painting. We did some book organizations and restored a lounge for the teachers and some of the parents so that was a good thing that they can come into the school and maybe feel a little bit better about being here and when they go about teaching. I come each year because it’s something where we can give back to the community. We all do very well here in Washington and this is just a way for us at our firm, and for me personally, to add to the community and do something good for the kids that go to our schools.