Volunteers in Orlando
celebrate Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream of peace in a multiracial nation with the planting of tree seedlings for civil rights at Orlando’s Trotters Park.
Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream of peace in a multiracial nation was celebrated Monday with the planting of tree seedlings for civil rights at Orlando’s Trotters Park.
“They give us this national holiday in honor of Martin Luther King. So … we clean up this park to show our reverence and our respect for what Martin Luther King stood for and what he did,” said Jacquie Alexander, life member of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority, one of many volunteer groups that spruced up the city park at Lee Road and North Orange Blossom Trail.
As Martin Luther King Jr. Day events took place across the country, volunteers in Orlando also pitched in for other projects in the city’s Great Day of Service to honor the slain civil-rights leader’s memory.
They included a cleanup in the Parramore neighborhood and improvement projects at Memorial Middle and Catalina Elementary schools.
At Trotters Park — once a harness-racing track — Wells Fargo donated $10,000 for trees and mulch. Orlando Utilities Commission showed up with its Davey Tree contractor to cut down and haul away nonnative trees.
Hundreds of volunteers from corporate, civic and service groups took up shovels, rakes and other tools to leave the park more manicured and with the beginnings of a potentially lush tree canopy.
They came in sneakers and boots, sweatpants and cargo shorts, with a wide range of landscaping skills and in good humor.
Patricia Evans, 54, took on the task of raking mulch into tidy circles around trunks of both transplants and mature trees. The event was dubbed Plant Seedlings for Civil Rights.
“I’ve come to give back for what Dr. King fought so hard to give us,” Evans said.
The trees planted along parking medians, trails and the roadway were Japanese blueberry, pink tabebuia, crape myrtle, magnolia and live oak.
Although President Donald Trump left Palm Beach on Monday afternoon, he plans to return next weekend. According to a travel notice from the Federal Aviation Administration, Trump will travel Friday back to Palm Beach and stay until Sunday. There will be temporary flight restrictions in the West Palm Beach area during his stay. The exact time of the president’s arrival is unknown.