Meridian Community College fine arts student Ezria Robinson, left, assists Misty Carter of The Carter Foundation in hanging cobwebs and other spooky decorations as they work to transform the foundation's building into a haunted house for its annual fall festival planned for Oct. 28. Robinson worked at The Carter Foundation on Tuesday as part of MCC's annual My College Cares community service project.

Meridian Community College students and faculty spread out across the county on Tuesday to lend a helping hand during the college’s annual one-day community service project called My College Cares.

Students enrolled in MCC’s precision machining program helped paint and repair steam engine exhibits for the Mississippi Industrial Heritage Museum, as well as clean up inside and outdoors at the Soulé Steam Feed Works. Another group of students helped downtown at The Carter Foundation, putting up spooky Halloween decorations and readying the building for its annual haunted house. Still, more MCC students worked several blocks down the street at Hope Village for Children Thrift Store, sorting out boxed-up Christmas decorations and pricing them to put on display tables.

“The purpose of My College Cares is for MCC to give back to the community,” said English instructor Morgan Boothe, a team captain for one of the student groups.

Boothe said the one-day event is a long-standing tradition at MCC, going back more than two decades. She said it is a good opportunity for students to see new places and meet new faces from the community, while getting the chance to be of service to others.

“This is my 24th year, and we have been doing My College Cares since I have been here,” she said.

MCC closes for the day, so students and employees can go out into the community and volunteer in a wide range of tasks, including painting, cleaning, organizing, raking leaves, pulling weeds, picking up limbs, trimming trees, picking up litter, washing windows, stocking supplies, reading to elementary students and helping set up for special activities.

“It’s highly unusual for a college to engage in a day of service, but it’s a testament to our desire to impact the lives of our students in significant ways,” MCC President Dr. Tom Huebner said in a press release about My College Cares.

“I’m thankful to be at a college that makes serving others a priority,” he added.

Besides working at several nonprofit organizations in the community, the MCC students volunteered at schools, churches, parks and gardens, community kitchens, museums and assisted living facilities.

“My College Cares is a day where we volunteer to clean up and help at different places in the community,” said Pedro Gonzalez, a precision machining student from Chunky who was painting exhibits at Soulé. “It’s a way for us to give back to the community.”

Gonzalez said he enjoyed the chance to help out organizations in need and thinks it is a good way for MCC students to have an impact in the community.

Fine arts student Ezria Robinson worked all morning at The Carter Foundation, which is preparing for its annual fall festival and haunted house. She joined other MCC students in hanging spooky spiderwebs and ghoulish decorations, painting old items to be used as objects in the haunted house, and taping dark plastic bags over the glass in the doors.

She said community service work helps her to develop better leadership and communication skills, as well as become more familiar with Meridian and businesses and organizations located here.

“It helps me get to know the community better since I am not from here,” the Jackson resident said.

James Carter, founder and executive director of The Carter Foundation, said the MCC students were a great assistance to the nonprofit organization as it prepares for its Oct. 28 Halloween event, which will feature games, entertainment, candy stations and the “Fright Night on 8th Street” haunted house.

“This is our ninth Halloween anniversary,” he said. “We started in 2014, so this year we want to put a heavy emphasis on the community part, so what better way to have community involvement than through the community college.”

Carter was previously a nontraditional student at MCC and he remembers helping to clean up at the campus chapel and the Sammie Davidson Sports Complex as part of his My College Cares volunteer endeavor.

“I used to participate in My College Cares, and I always enjoyed it,” he said. “I got the chance to work with other people besides just my classmates, and I loved it. I know that it always made me want to get more involved with the community.”

Carter said some of the students who worked at the foundation’s office on Tuesday volunteered to come back and help with the haunted house.

Robert Evans, manager of the Hope Village thrift store, said the MCC students are a valuable resource for the organization. On Tuesday, more than half a dozen volunteers helped the store work to get ready for the holidays by sorting merchandise, pricing and putting it out for Christmas.

“People are our resource whether through donations or through volunteering,” Evans said. “I say all of the time, it is not just volunteering physical items, we need volunteers who give of their time and labor. The MCC students are so valuable to us.”