Kids and adults chose to forego a day off on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day to live his mission of community service at the Dartmouth YMCA.

On January 15, the YMCA opened its doors for a “Day of Service” program. During the event, more than 50 people, including kids, parents, adult volunteers, and staff members, picked up power tools, hammers, and trowels to build needed hardware for the YMCA’s Sharing the Harvest Community Farm.

“There is a need for this type of event, so we applied for a grant to fund it,” explained Farm Director Dan King, who supervised the construction process and organized other activities.

Jennifer Fugate brought her son Connor to help out. Connor attends daycare programs through the YMCA and heard about the event there.

“We decided it’s a great way to give back to our community,” Fugate said.

Ten-year-old Richard Senna pitched in to help the YMCA and further his Fairhaven school’s community service requirement. He attended with Jo Ann Tavares from the Sylvia Group, which participates in several community service projects throughout the South Coast.

“They’re excited to learn about giving back and are learning a lot of skills,” said Megan Pogash, who brought her kids Juniper, 4, and Benjamin, 6 to help out.

By the end of the four-hour event, volunteers had assembled 12 oak tables, six animal screens to keep pests out of gardens and crops, and 12 wooden planters kids filled with dirt and brought home with them.