GALLOWAY – Samaritan Healthcare and Hospice of Marlton has participated in at least the last five Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. days of service at Richard Stockton College.

“We come here to help youth see that volunteering can be a fun and easy way to help their communities,” said Sharon Wenner, volunteer coordinator for Samaritan. “All cards will be distributed to our patients and help bring a smile to their day.”

Wenner said she assists in recruiting adult and youth volunteers, and then helps orient and train them.

“I help with special events, community awareness and public speaking,” she said. “PATCO – the high speed line – had an event at one of the stations, and we passed out information and giveaways. The goal is to build community awareness of our services.”

At Stockton’s 24th annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration and 8th annual Day of Service, Christine Fruehwirth, a Stockton sophomore from Sayreville, said she thinks the paper hearts they were making will make patients feel loved on Valentine’s Day.

“My grandfather just died at Thanksgiving,” she said. “I just thought this would be a good thing to do.”

It was Fruehwirth’s first time at a Stockton Day of Service, she said.

“I became a resident assistant last semester,” she said. “That includes becoming more a part of these campus activities.”

The Knight family of Galloway also made valentines for the extremely ill patients that are cared for by hospice.

“I’ve always participated in many of their different activities,” mom Natalie Knight noted. “It’s nice, being a returning student.”

She said age is never an issue at Stockton.

“Old and young, we all work together,” Knight said. “Today is a good learning opportunity for the kids. And it’s a good thing for my husband and I to do together.”

David Knight, who works for Stockton Affiliated Services Inc. and Atlantic County and volunteers at Mainland Baptist Church in Galloway, said volunteering on a scheduled day off was a good thing.

“You lead by example,” he said. “Actions speak louder than words.”

With them were daughters Sara, 13, and Brittany, 14, eighth grades students at Galloway Township Middle School. Son Thomas, a sophomore at Absegami High School who participates in Peer Remediation, was also making cards for the infirmed.

Other Dr. Martin Luther King Day of Service projects included organizing the collection and taking inventory at the African-American Heritage Museum of Southern New Jersey at 661 Jackson Road in Newtonville; doing inventory at the Atlantic City Rescue Mission at 2009 Bacharach Blvd. in Atlantic City; helping out at the Atlantic Riding Center for Health at 206 Asbury Road in Egg Harbor Township; assisting with scheduled programming at  CARING Adult Day Healthcare at 227 North Vermont Ave. in Atlantic City, and 407 West Delilah Road in Pleasantville; assisting in multiple projects at Career Opportunity Development Inc., 901 Atlantic Ave. in Egg Harbor City; and cleaning the clubhouse at Gilda's Club of South Jersey, 700 New Road in Linwood.

Other volunteers served at Eastern Service Workers Association, 53 E. Washington Ave. in Pleasantville; Family Service Association on English Creek Avenue in Egg Harbor Township; the New Jersey Public Interest Research Group at the Boys and Girls Club of Atlantic City at 317 N. Pennsylvania Ave. in Atlantic City; thrift shops at South Shore Ministries at 133 New Road in Northfield, and on Route 9 in Oceanville; Seashore Gardens Living Center at 22 W. Jimmie Leeds Road in Galloway; and Zion Lutheran Church at 312 Philadelphia Ave. in Egg Harbor City.

On-campus projects included “Books Without Borders,” packing books for shipment to soldiers overseas; “Circle K,” making and preparing cards for the troops; making osprey nets to be installed next spring at the Edwin G. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge; and the Samaritan Hospice card project.

Photos available