How Will You Serve Your Communtity on King Day of Service 2010?
January 15, 2010 by Amy
Filed under Good Causes, Recent Posts
“January 18, 2010 is King Day of Service a day ON, not a day off.”
On Monday, January 18- millions of American organizations close so that their employees, students, volunteers etc can observe Martin Luther King, Jr Holiday- commonly referred to as “MLK Day”. Since 1986, this federal holiday is observed in our country on the third Monday of January each year to mark King’s birthday, January 15 but it was not observed by all 50 states until the year 2000. Because the holiday is still relatively new, traditions to observe are still evolving.
In 1994- Congress designated the King Holiday a national day of service and the King Day of Service has grown every year since that time. In 2009 President Obama very publicly urged our nation to observe the call to service which resulted in a record number of Americans turned out to honor Dr. King by helping their neighbors and communities. It was reported that more than one million volunteers served on 13,000 projects taking place in all 50 states.
Many of us think of a holiday as a day off- and in the dead of winter it is very tempting to stay in; read a book, watch movies, etc. But perhaps it is time for more of us to actively participate in King Day of Service- and encourage our friends and neighbors to do the same.
What better way to honor the courage and selfless devotion that Dr. King exemplified and inspired in an entire generation than to give back to your community in any way that you can? King Day of Service is a symbol of how Dr. King’s legendary dream is still alive and unfolding.
This MLK Day Toolkit is designed to provide you with the information you need to create projects and events in celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s life through the MLK Day of Service.
Check out some of the media coverage from 2009 about the President and First Lady’s participation, interviews with volunteers, and footage of service projects. Please tell us how you are planning to serve on King Day of Service 2010 on our Facebook Page.
