How Will You Serve Your Communtity on King Day of Service 2010?

“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.

FOR THE GLORY OF THE CLIMB

Every detail of Sir Winston Churchill’s life story pulsates with such greatness that identifying his dominant legacy seems nearly impossible. But despite being a war hero, a great historian, an accomplished painter and the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom…twice…it was his words, ink to paper, that earned him the Nobel Prize in literature AND my humble vote for his writing as his most dominant legacy.

Churchill wrote, “Every day you may make progress. Every step may be fruitful. Yet there will stretch out before you an ever-lengthening, ever-ascending, ever-improving path. You know you will never get to the end of the journey. But this, so far from discouraging, only adds to the joy and glory of the climb.”

It is through these words that I draw great strength about the journey we have ahead of us.  The Green Revolution, even while basking in its abundance of glory days, has not nearly reached graduation. Certainly, there are many tier one eco people out there who have pioneered the Revolution by installing solar panels, planting rooftop organic gardens and introducing their garages to a shiny new Prius.  Then, of course, there’s the second, more colonized tier of eco progressive citizens who have firmly committed themselves to their favorite magazine’s “Top Ten Ways to Go Green.”  Still, the majority…the majority…of the world’s six and a half billion inhabitants have not nearly earned themselves the green stamp of approval.

Certain members of my family (unnamed for their protection) still do not recycle. They continue to use plastic bags when they shop for groceries.  And they think organic is just a fancy word placed before the name of a vegetable to justify charging more for it.  It’s a horrendous reality for me, but truth nevertheless.  Although I live my life somewhere between tier one and tier two, I have never preached to said family members.  Instead, I offer information and hope that their choices one day mirror my own.

Feed Your Eco is a blog that honors every eco effort in celebration of change no matter how slight. No preaching.  No guilt trips. No soapbox.  The glory of this journey is in experiencing the reward of progress, and knowing there is no end to the greatness in store for our beautiful planet.

“It does not matter how slowly you go so long as you do not stop.”
- Confucius