Central College celebrated the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. with a day of service and discussion Thursday.

Americorps VISTA and Central Alum Katie Gatzke tells KNIA/KRLS News a group of students helped Sharing the Weight by taping weighted blankets to be sewn for kids with special needs. Gatzke says Central honors Dr. King annually when students return to campus for the spring semester, and this year, they focused on his mission of economic justice.

“This year we are focusing on economic justice, specifically inequality and poverty, when it comes to those that are different in society, which is what MLK was all about, bringing about civil rights,” she says. “Near the end of his life, he wasn’t just talking about the racism that occurred and occurs in America, he was talking about poverty and class inequality.”

Martin Luther King, Jr. came to campus to speak in March of 1967.