Jan. 15—NEW ALBANY — Around 70 Indiana University Southeast students were transported across New Albany on Martin Luther King Jr. Day to give back to the community that has given to them.

The school’s annual MLK Day of Service commenced Monday at five different locations across the city.

IUS Chancellor Debbie Ford said the day of service has been an annual tradition at the school for more than 10 years.

Students met on campus and then were transported by bus to the volunteer sites.

At St. Mark’s United Christian Church, student volunteers cleaned tables, chairs, the kitchen and the kitchen supplies. The church provides meals through a program called Saturday Cafe.

Church member Bill Lafayette said they feed up to 100 people at Saturday Cafe. He said for him, it’s important that the kitchen and eating space is clean and sanitized, so the student volunteers come at an opportune time.

Abbie Dupay, IUS acting dean of student life and director of resident life and housing, said an email goes out to all students to sign up for the day of service.

She said this year, they had an “extremely high number of students” that signed up to volunteer.

“We’re getting kind of back to those like pre-COVID levels of engagement,” she said.

IUS Junior Andrew Roy, who is a member of the Christian Student Fellowship, said he has been volunteering on the day since his freshman year.

“I look forward to it every year,” he said.

Roy said he feels the university is community-oriented, in terms of inviting community members to the campus through events like IUS Fest, and also going into the outlying communities themselves to volunteer.

“It’s just a really neat opportunity to kind of give back to … an area that’s given so much to us,” he said.