Honor Martin Luther King Jr. with service

This coming Monday, the country will pay tribute to the life and achievements of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a vital figure of the modern era and a pivotal figure in the Civil Rights Movement whose legacy continues to shape our social structures today.

After a long struggle, legislation was signed in 1983 to mark the birthday of Dr. King as a federal holiday. With it being a holiday, you’ll likely have a day off from work or school, but we encourage you to make it more than just another day off and instead find a way to serve your community.

In 1994, Congress designated the holiday as a national day of service and charged the Corporation for National and Community Service with leading this effort. Taking place on the third Monday in January, the Martin Luther King Jr.

Day of Service is the only federal holiday observed as a national day of service — a “day on, not a day off.”

The MLK Day of Service is part of United We Serve, the President’s national call to service initiative. It calls for Americans from all walks of life to work together to provide solutions to our most pressing national problems. The MLK Day of Service empowers individuals, strengthens communities, bridges barriers creates solutions to social problems, and moves us closer to Dr. King’s vision of a “Beloved Community.”

Why serve on MLK Day? Dr. King recognized the power of service. He famously said, “Everyone can be great because everyone can serve.” Observing the Martin Luther King Jr. federal holiday through service is a way to begin each year with a commitment to making your community a better place. Your service honors Dr. King’s life and teachings and helps meet community challenges. Service also brings people together of all ages, backgrounds, and abilities.

The MLK Day of Service encourages all types of service, particularly projects that have a lasting impact and connect participants to ongoing service. The most successful projects connect to the life and teaching of Dr. King, meet a pressing community need, and include time to reflect on his teachings.

Even if you can’t find a group project to get involved in, there are plenty of other ways you can serve. Take a walk in a park and pick up trash you see, donate nonperishable food items to Cooperating Ministry of Logan County, deliver groceries or a meal to an elderly neighbor or drive them to a doctor’s appointment, send cards to soldiers serving overseas, donate used books to a school library, read to a resident at a nursing home or volunteer at the Logan County Humane Society.

On Monday and throughout the year, let’s honor Dr. King by answering his call to service.

The MLK Day of Service empowers individuals, strengthens communities, bridges barriers creates solutions to social problems, and moves us closer to Dr. King’s vision of a “Beloved Community.” ... Observing the Martin Luther King Jr. federal holiday through service is a way to begin each year with a commitment to making your community a better place.