Thoughts on MLK Day of Service
by Jenners • 01/21/2013 • BB/The Little One, Lessons Learned • 44 Comments
As you may know, today is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in the United States. This year, BB and I were lucky enough to take part in our community’s MLK Day of Service. It was a really rewarding experience, and I wanted to share thoughts on the day.
- One of our local councilmen organized the event. There were 12 different activities that we could sign up for, including: working at the local animal shelter, making cards for servicemen and the students at Sandy Hook, organizing the local food bank pantry, and teaching Zumba to seniors. Of course, we signed up for one of the few outdoor activities, which made me wish that perhaps MLK’s holiday could be moved to a warmer month.
- When we registered, everyone got a t-shirt. They were out of kid’s sizes and only had adult L and XL sizes. The lady doing the registration literally took the shirt off her back (a medium) to give to BB. She was wearing a flesh-colored tank top underneath and everyone started hooting and cheering—except for BB, who was scandalized to get “a used t-shirt that some lady already wore.”
- A few older African-American women got up to speak and became very emotional recalling the civil rights struggles that they had participated in during the 1960s. One woman recalled a time when she was asked to leave a church because it wasn’t “for colored people.” That woman is now a preacher and just preached a sermon in that church a few weeks ago. It was emotional to see hear these women and see the depth of emotion that Dr. King and the civil rights struggle evokes. It made me glad for BB to hear these stories and learn a bit about this part of our country’s history.
- Our mayor was there. Guess what his last name is? Mayer. This makes him Mayor Mayer. It is impossible not to giggle at this. It reminded me of Major Major Major from Catch-22.
- Our service project was cleaning up the local war memorial in the park. (BB thought we were cleaning up trash from the park and kept saying “I hope I get one of those sticks with the needles at the end.”) Unfortunately for him, the project involved raking leaves, pulling weeds and only doing minor trash pick-up (and not with “needle sticks”). At the end, the group leader asked BB to play on all the playground equipment to “check it for safety” as the last part of his project. Needless to say, BB was thrilled to comply.
- It felt really good to work with different members of our community—including some older African-American veterans who brought the group together and took a special liking to BB. At one point, a few of us adults were talking about how many kids today (including my son) are really growing up to be “color blind” in many ways. I love that when my son describes someone’s physical appearance, he describes their hair, eye color and clothing before mentioning their skin color. I love that he lives in a neighborhood where children of all races and ethnicities play together. I love that he finds it normal to live in a fully integrated neighborhood where half the folks on our block have a different skin color from his—and he doesn’t find that unusual or odd. I know there is still racism and inequality in our country, but today was a wonderful reminder of the many strides that have been made. It felt good to be a part of our community and work together to accomplish a positive goal. I think Dr. King would be thrilled to see that his holiday is about something other than a “day off” from school or work.
The things you do with BB inspire me. (I wouldn’t want the pre-owned shirt either
)
The town we live in made it easy to be a good parent on this day!
What a great thing to do with your son! I had the day off and wish I had thought about finding a service event. Your son’s reaction to being given that lady’s shirt is priceless!
He was just so shocked and scandalized by it. He asked me to wash it!! : )
Your Mayor’s name is Mayer! That’s my maiden name and my classmates always teased me that I would be a mayor when I grew up. I love that some Mayer really did that.
Yup … there is a Mayor Mayer! Love that you had discussed it as a younger person!! Too funny.
We had to be at work, but Ron went to a breakfast in celebration of MLK Jr and said the few African-American people who live around here were mostly in attendance, and he was glad he went because there weren’t enough people of less color.
We had a very mixed and diverse group. I’m glad your husband went so it was a more diverse audience. I think that is important for an event like this.
Sounds like such a worthwhile event, though I had seen many MLK posts on various blogs I hadn’t realised it was actually a national event.
It is (mostly) a national holiday. I think a few states don’t do it (or maybe just one) but it is supposed to be a service-oriented day.
I think it’s fantastic that your community held so many different events and services in honor of MLK day. I feel like we tend to forget the significance of these holidays and just treat them as a day of vacation. It’s definitely an experience for both you and BB
Exactly! Most of these holidays have lost their meaning but it was good to be true to the spirit of the day.
Sounds wonderfully rewarding and a great experience for BB. It’s so important for children to learn compassion and how to share with those less fortunate than themselves.
Just before Christmas, I took my daughter with me to give out clothes and hugs to the homeless.
It is exactly why I wanted him to go and participate. It is never too early to start living those kinds of lessons.
What an awesome event your community organizes! And yes- Alex is infamous for describing people by their clothes and forgetting their names so hard to know who she is talking about.
I grew up in a very white area but now I think we might technically be the minority where we live and my kids are just friends with all as it should be.
It cracks me up whenever he described someone as “he has a blue shirt.”
And you’re exactly right …being friends with all is just as a it should be.
Glad you were able to participate in a community event.
I worked but I often feel my job is service type job anyway so that does make me feel better, especially when I am away from my kids.
We were lucky to have our community offer such good opportunities and make it “easy” to volunteer.
This is so awesome, Jenners! I am so glad that you and BB got to spend the day participating in all the events that the day held. I am also glad that my kids are “colorblind” as you say. They describe their friends in much the same way as your son does, and they go to school and live in a neighborhood where everyone is different. I am sorry that BB didn’t get to play with the needle sticks, but I am betting that you were rather happy about that!!
Yes … I think the “needlesticks” would have ended up causing someone pain … possibly my foot!
Now that’s a day well spent. I really enjoyed reading the ins and outs of it. I love that he had to “inspect” the play equipment!
He was so excited about that aspect of the job!
Good for the two of you for participating in a productive, meaningful, event!! I’m afraid I spend most of my day with my Kindle. Shame on me.
Well, I’m not saying I didn’t WANT to spend the day with my Kindle! HAHA! The thing about it was that they made it really easy to participate — it was very well done and I look forward to doing it again next year.
You have so inspired me! In 2016, I am voting for President for anybody named Something-or-other President!
Wouldn’t that be awesome!? I might have to change BB’s name if it doesn’t happen before he becomes “of age.”
that sounds like a great way to celebrate the day.
It really was a wonderful event and so true to the spirit of the holiday.
It sounds like it was a beautifully organized day. So happy you got to participate. Hope there was hot chocolate for the volunteers:)
There was hot chocolate … and donuts, bogels, pretzels and juice. They took care of us.
It’s definitely a challenge to decide to get out there in January! You guys made a great decision.
We lucked out … it was cold but bearable. Today is much much worse.
Wonderful post today! It sounds like the perfect way to honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.. I think his dream came true for the most part, slowly but surely.
I do think … slowly but surely … his dream is being realized.
What a great tradition you’re starting!!
I love my color-blind neighborhood…from the recently arrived Syrians next door to the Samoans around the corner, the Vietnamese 5 doors down to the Muslims down the street. It feels the way America should. Aren’t we blessed?? Thanks for serving your community. Now it will roll forward…
They said they had only a handful of people last year. This year there was 250 people. Next year I suspect there will be more. And we are blessed to live in such a diverse and interesting country.
Yay for you and BB! It appears that nobody in my local area needs help – the closest volunteer stuff I could find was about an hour away, and the head penny pincher said “NO” to that expenditure.
My neighborhood is far different from yours, and not in a good way. It’s a redneck paradise (and I wonder why I am here).
I suspect your neighbors would hate my neighborhood. And too bad your local area didn’t organize such an event. It was a really neat but simple program. I suspect that most communities could do something with just a bit of effort.
What a wonderful way to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr’s birthday – I’m sure he’d be proud.
It really was a good day. Too many holidays (like Labor Day and Veterans Day) seem to get lost in the shuffle and their real meaning forgotten. I was glad to see this holiday not suffering the same fate — at least in our area.
This is such a great idea. I can only wish that more communities adopt something similar next year. MLK Day really should be about making the community a better place and serving others, and given my own community’s total lack of anything having to do with MLK today, it makes me feel better knowing that his spirit is being kept alive by others.
I do agree that kids really are growing up “color blind”. My daughter knows that her friends might be from other countries, but it truly does not bother her in the least. I love that.
I love the colorblindness too. I think it took a few generations to turn things around and I hope it keeps on going.
And I think it is such a neat thing for communities to do — there are so many opportunities. One of the activities yesterday was painting the rec center. How community oriented is that?
It sounds like you got to work with some very neat people! I especially like the bit about your son getting to test the safety of the play equipment – that was obviously someone who knows kids.
My husband and kids shoveled and spread bark dust at the community dog park today. I stayed home and cleaned house because my arm is doing well but is not quite up to raking and shoveling. So my service was more to my family than to the community. Hopefully next year they will have a wider range of activities in our community.
Hey … at least you guys had something to do. And it was a nice touch for him to assign my son “playground equipment safety check.” : )