A Different Day of Service
Don’t let a pandemic stop you from participating in the MLK Day of Service. Need ideas? Here’s how.
On January 18, millions of people will take part in the MLK Day of Service. In a non-pandemic world, neighbors and community members come together to identity and take part in important service opportunities. It is an uplifting time because people are energized when they are engaged in activities that will enhance their own communities.
However, this year is different because of the pandemic. Now, the prescribed response is “stay home and stay safe.” Therefore, find ways to participate from home. First, be creative. Second, persevere. It can be done! For example, kids can participate in food, clothing, toy, and animal shelter donations. There are many other ways to engage at home. For instance, support your favorite volunteer organization. Here are some examples:
- Be an ambassador. Find an organization that supports community goals. Offer to call on its behalf. Share or make social media posts that amplify their messaging.
- Clear out your closets. Hold a “sidewalk sale.” You can donate the profits to the organization.
- Offer to take an elderly neighbor her mail.
Share your thoughts about community service. What will you be doing it on the MLK Day of Service? What are your ideas?
MLK Day ON Not OFF: Everyone Can Serve
Here’s a bit of good news: On the third Monday of every January, our nation celebrates Martin Luther King Jr. and the many contributions he made to our world. To honor him, we hold the National Day of Service. People want to be engaged. A simple Google search of the term “National Day of Service” reveals more than 4.5 million hits. This coming Monday, January 18, is the 26th annual National Day of Service.
Everyone can participate in what’s also known as MLK’s Day ON not OFF. Everyone is welcome! It is a matter of choice: will you participate in an effort that will support or enhance the community you live in? How will you? What are your ideas? Continue reading “MLK Day ON Not OFF: Everyone Can Serve”
Good Trouble
When you see something that is not right, you must say something. You must do something. Democracy is not a state. It is an act.
Ordinary people with extraordinary vision can redeem the soul of America by getting in what I call good trouble, necessary trouble.
— Rep. John Lewis
When I was a child, getting “into trouble” was something I always tried to avoid. I didn’t want to get into trouble with my parents or my teachers. When I was in 4th grade, the teacher saw me when I stuck my tongue out at her. I was mortified because someone from school called my mom; I was in “big trouble” that day. On another occasion, when I was in high school, I tossed a pencil to a friend who needed one and got sent to the office for that infraction. Although initially the punishment was two weeks detention, I only served one week. That was a relief.
That’s not the trouble that John Lewis speaks about. What is “good trouble”? Rosa Parks got into “good trouble” when she refused to give up to a white man her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama, bus. Yes, she broke a law and yes, she was arrested, and she did it in a non-violent way. In doing so, she inspired the Montgomery Bus Boycott, which lasted 381 days; and eventually, bus segregation was held to be unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court. Something wasn’t right. Rosa Parks did something about it; and today, she is regarded as “the first lady of civil rights” and “the mother of the freedom movement.”