Just as the congregation of Westminster Presbyterian Church was finishing up the last chorus of “We Shall Overcome” at its special holiday breakfast, a group of roughly 30 George Washington University students fittingly walked through the doors eager to volunteer on Martin Luther King Jr. Day Monday to honor the legacy of the Civil Rights icon who believed in public service.
The students, who were part of the 700-plus GW volunteers serving at nearly 20 organizations across Washington, D.C., as part of the 31st annual MLK Day of Service, were tasked with putting together and learning how to use Narcan kits to reverse opiate overdose.
According to Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), each day roughly 136 people nationwide die from an opiate overdose, with the overwhelming majority (92%) of the deaths related to fentanyl.
School of Medicine and Health Sciences Associate Professor Maranda Ward and Director of the Westminster Empowerment Center George Kerr provided on-site guidance and education to the students. Kerr led them through the five basic steps in administering Narcan in the form of a spray that was provided in a kit each student received: assessing whether an individual had overdosed; calling 911; administering the Narcan; performing rescue breathing; and placing the person in a recovering position.
The GW students who were eager to learn, help and serve their communities found both the service project and information about substance use disorder helpful.
“The information was super useful,” Larissa Bansal, a second-year international affairs student. “I didn’t know anything about Narcan or the signs and symptoms of a person who was overdosing.”
Her friend, Bella Martocci, who is also a sophomore in international affairs, agreed.
“The presentation was insightful, in addition to all of the personal experiences Kerr included,” Martocci said. “Those real-world connections made it resonate more.”
Alumna Annabelle Pham, B.S. ‘22, M.S. ‘24, joined the students at Westminster.
GW helped fuel Pham’s passion for community service when she was both an undergraduate business administration major and later a graduate student of project management at the university. In fact, Honey W. Nashman Center for Civic Engagement and Public Service became her second home.
She was a student coordinator for 9/11 National Day of Service and Remembrance, served during GW Alternative Breaks and enlisted in JumpStart, an AmeriCorps program that helped fulfill her sense of mission and further her education. That set her up perfectly as a candidate for the Eli Segal AmeriCorps Fellowship, designed for people interested in becoming civic and community leaders and fit closely with her master’s program.
On Monday, it came full circle as she accompanied interim AmeriCorps CEO Jennifer Bastress Tahmasebi at Westminster to help GW students serve. Not to mention, she appreciated the opportunity to add to her service toolbelt, noting that she will take two of the Narcan kits back to her office.
“It’s another tool in my skill set,” said Pham, now a program coordinator at the U.S. Census Bureau.
Back on campus, volunteers stationed in the University Student Center organized and prepared clothing donations for A Wider Circle, a D.C.-based nonprofit that helps individuals through career support services and access to basic needs.
Emily Mahler, a senior studying public health and nutrition, served as a site leader for the clothing drive, helping sort, fold and bag donated items.
“We collected as much warm clothing as we could,” Mahler said. “We also collect basics like T-shirts and leggings, and we had a lot of kids’ clothing, which is great because they don’t get a lot of those donations.”
Mahler said participating in the day of service reflects values she has long carried and helped her feel more connected to the city she now calls home.
“I just really adored learning about and working with my community here in D.C.,” Mahler said. “It’s really nice for me to get to know the people that I’ve moved into the community that I now live in.”
She also said she was moved by the strong turnout for the voluntary day of service.
“I’m actually very surprised with the amount of students that came out today,” Mahler said. “It really speaks to the community that we’ve developed on campus and the importance of service and civic engagement that we’ve cultivated here.”
Aba Pobee, a senior studying data science, said she has participated in GW’s Welcome Day of Service in previous years and decided to volunteer again for MLK Day of Service.
“I think it’s important to give back to my community,” Pobee said. “Something that was a personal goal of mine this year was to do 22 hours of service every month, and this was a good way to get to that goal.”
Pobee said she encourages other students, especially incoming first-years, to join future days of service, pointing out that it’s a great way to give back to the D.C. community and meet other students as well.
“MLK Day means thinking about what it means to be part of a community and what it means to cultivate community and to be part of something better,” Pobee said. “For me personally, it puts something in my heart to give back.”
Photos by GW Today Senior Photographer William Atkins, Florence Shen and B.L. Wilson.
