LESSONS IN SERVICE AND KINDNESS

Rat her than sleeping in, going to a family barbecue or hitting the beach on the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday, seventh grader Julio Espinosa sanded splintered benches and painted tree planters at South Junior High School. Espinosa was among 4,000 students from across the Anaheim Union High School District who opted on the day off of school to complete one of 160 community service projects. I like for my campus to look clean, so I wanted to help out, Espinosa, 13, said. It s better to live in a clean community than in a dirty community. The effort was part of the first district wide Servathon, aimed at raising $75,000 that will go toward campus activities and the newly created Student Service Foundation, which awards grants to pay for pupil-led community improvement projects. Students found sponsors and collected pledges based on the number of hours they completed. It s important for us to help each other because we re all part of the csaid as she helped plant a campus garden at South Junior High during the Servathon, which coincided with Martin Luther King Jr. Day as well as the National Day of Service. Among the dozens of projects on Monday, students participated in campus cleanups, collected toys for children in need and picked up garbage at local beaches. Others cooked meals for senior citizens, assembled care packages for the homeless and volunteered at animal shelters. The focus is really on creating a culture of service, kindness and compassion, said Superintendent Michael Matsuda, whose district serves more than 32,000 students living in Anaheim, Buena Park, Stanton, Cypress and La Palma. There is a misconception that young people don t care, and we want to change that, Matsuda said. We also want to teach the children that if you do something positive for the community, then good things will begin to happen. Back at South Junior High, seventh-grader Andrew Mendez said he g overseas in the military. The military is protecting our country, Mendez, 12, said. It s good to g