In the words of Coretta Scott King, “Martin Luther King Jr. Day is not only for celebration and remembrance, education and tribute, but above all a day of service … it is a day of volunteering to feed the hungry, rehabilitate housing, tutor those who can’t read, mentor at-risk youngsters, console the broken-hearted and a thousand other projects for building the beloved community of his dream.”
In the wake of this week’s tragic earthquake in Haiti, I can almost hear Dr. King’s voice asking us to serve this Monday on the day that we remember this great man’s life. On the news, we have been looking at images of the incredible destruction and sadness, from families who have lost their homes, to families and friends who have lost their loved ones. For this magnitude of devastation to hit Haiti, already the fourth poorest country in the world and the poorest in the Western Hemisphere, it is incomprehensible.
Monday, we celebrate the life and legacy of a man who taught us not to fear the incomprehensible in life, but to realize our power to make a difference. We know what Dr. King would tell us. He would tell us that all of us can do something to help. That each of us must reach out to those in need. He would help us realize our incredible power in the face of life’s most uncontrollable moments. That power is the gift of service.
It should not take a tragedy of this week’s earthquake in Haiti to wake us all up from our own personal day to day challenges, to look beyond ourselves, and be moved to ask “how we can help.”
It has always been my dream that we would help children to realize we all have this power through service to make the world stronger and to lessen another’s suffering in a time of need. I think Dr. King’s dream was a world where all children grew up knowing how to extend a hand and feeling responsible to do so.
Each year, Children for Children, an organization near and dear to my heart, celebrates the life of Dr. King by providing opportunities for young people to volunteer and discover their power and potential to make a real difference in the world. With over 4,000 young people volunteering at large service events in New York City, to small groups of children gathering around the country, young people are realizing their ability to contribute to the greater good in all sorts of ways. From packing toiletry care kits for shelters, to holding read-a-thons to fundraise for Red Cross relief efforts, kids are showing that you are never too small to make a big difference.
Dr. King’s life of service showed us the power of one individual to make a difference. But his legacy and his dream of the “beloved community” was a vision of what could be if we all came together to build a better world.
I believe that in 2010, we will see more Americans than ever before showing our strength as a society through service. I hope you will choose to be a part of this. If you are looking for ways to volunteer, you can visit www.childrenforchildren.org; www.handsonnetwork.org; and www.mlkday.gov or use some of the ideas below:
Children for Children
The Youth HandsOn Network
31 Ways to Teach Kids the History of Dr. King through Service
Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service 2010 marks the beginning of a year of service as millions of Americans honor the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. by volunteering in their communities. The day builds upon the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., along with President Obama’s resonant call to service.
Our Goals:
- To lead the younger generations in celebrating Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s visionary leadership and values and honoring his legacy.
- To present a public event that engages people in communities across our nation in powerful conversations about issues that shape our nation.
- To create a platform for family volunteering.
- To empower parents to teach their children about Dr. King’s legacy of nonviolence, equality and respect.
The Importance of Family Service
Engaging parents and their children in service together has important positive outcomes for everyone involved. It benefits:
- Children and youth by cultivating positive values, such as caring and empathy, and by developing a commitment to service both now and in the future.
- Parents by giving them more quality time with their children and all the other benefits of volunteering for adults, including increased interpersonal skills and improved mental and physical health.
- Families by increasing their sense of cohesion, well-being, and connection to the broader community.
The 31 Ways
The “31 Ways” below are service projects that teach young people about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. through service-learning. The thirty-one “Ways” correspond with the thirty-one days in January. A family, school or group can mix and match their service projects from the list, and towns, cities or school districts may choose to complete one service project each day of the month.
Youth and Family-Friendly Service Projects for MLK Day: Specific to Dr. King and His Movement
1. 31 Days of Peace, Kindness and Justice - Read a different quotation on peace, kindness, diversity or justice over your school’s PA system every day in January.
2. Welcome Cards - Celebrate diversity by making cards to welcome new immigrants to your city. Include information such as important local phone numbers and recommendations of places to go and things to do or see in the area.
3. MLK Day Book Club - Read Martin’s Big Words, by Doreen Rappaport (grades K- 5), and discuss the book as a group.
4. Dream to Read - Organize your children or group to read books with children younger than them, on the topic of Dr. King. (See book list, below.) This promotes literacy by creating enthusiasm for all that we can learn from books, through Dr. King’s inspiring story.
5. Creative Expressions of Dr. King’s Legacy - Research the history of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s movement and teachings. Think about what significance or importance they have to you or your world and express this creatively through poetry, art, writing, or another creative medium, teaching this history to others in your community.
6. Wall of Dreams - Read Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech. Trace yourself on large paper and cut the shape of your body out. Draw your clothes and features on the shape, and choose excerpts from the speech to write and illustrate, along with dreams of your own. Display all of the papers on the wall to make a “Wall of Dreams.”
7. Opinion Letters - Keep Dr. King’s message of civic engagement alive by writing a letter to President Obama or a local government official to express your opinion on a topic of your choice.
8. The Power of Peace Cranes - Read Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes, by Eleanor Coerr, and make peace cranes as a symbol of your commitment to peace. Display in your school or community.
9. Diversity Quilt - Make a Diversity Quilt celebrating diverse cultures, nationalities, and appearances, and donate it to a community location or organization for display. Include drawings, stitching, quotations, or short statements of what you will do to celebrate diversity and keep the peace.
10. Bookmarks - Create bookmarks celebrating reading in a variety of languages and give them to the public library for distribution to library patrons.
11. Buttons - Make buttons with civil rights symbols and slogans.
12. A Benchmark for Social Change - Design bus seat covers that allow people to better understand what is possible when they make a commitment to social change. Have the covers placed on functional school or city buses.
13. Inspirational Dr. King Murals - Help paint a mural bearing an inspirational Dr. King quote to beautify a local community center or school, while inspiring other youth to make a difference.
14. Civil Rights Activity Books - Use a computer program to create word searches, crossword puzzles, mazes, and matching games on the theme of Civil Rights and Dr. King. Compile the activities and design a colorful cover to attach, creating an activity book. These books can be donated to afterschool programs, hospitals, or transitional housing.
15. Food for Thought - Use diverse foods as a discussion-starter on the topic of diversity. Work with your family or group to make “Earth Cookies” using vanilla and butterscotch chips in addition to chocolate, and an assortment of white and brown eggs. Or, make trail mix with a variety of ingredients. Use these recipes as metaphors for diverse peoples working well together or coexisting in harmony.
16. Host a Read-a-thon or Essay Contest - Organize a read-a-thon, essay contest or other academic contest or on the topic of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., or civil rights, or service and civic engagement. Utilize the book list below for possible essay topics, or choose Civil Rights quotations as themes.
Youth and Family-Friendly Service Projects for MLK Day: Other Community Issues
17. Fleece Scarves - Make a fleece scarf to donate to the homeless or anyone else in need of support in the winter.
18. Tactile Valentines for Blind Senior Citizens - Make a tactile Valentine, using raised letters, to be given to a blind senior citizen on February 14th. Optional: Make a lavender sachet to accompany the card, appealing to the senior citizens’ senses.
19. Cat Toys and Dog Bandanas - Assemble cat toys and design “Adopt me!” dog bandanas for residents of a local animal shelter.
20. Canned Food Collection - Organize the canned food in your kitchen and take the extras to an MLK Day food drive - or, organize your own food drive for MLK Day.
21. Food Bank Bags - Take your food drive a step farther by decorating paper bags with positive messages about healthy eating and packing the canned goods in them. Include print-outs of healthy eating tips, recipes, and exercise ideas. Donate finished bags to a local food bank.
22. “Lights Out!” Light Switch Plates - Create “Lights Out!” light switch plates to remind your family to turn off the lights when leaving a room.
23. The Voting Patrol - Talk to adults about voting and make sure they are registered.
24. Peace Bracelets - Make peace bracelets to be donated to victims of domestic violence, bearing white or dove-shaped beads to symbolize young people’s commitment to working toward peace.
25. Environmental Coloring Books - Assemble home-made coloring books with an environmental theme, to be donated to children in the hospital with a packet of crayons, as a fun and educational activity.
26. Birthday Cards for Homebound Seniors - Color birthday cards to be given to elderly homebound individuals along with their Meals on Wheels meals.
27. Paper Flowers - Create paper flowers out of colorful tissue paper and chenille sticks to be donated to a community center, hospital, or nursing home. Write positive messages in cards to accompany the flowers. Optional: flowers can be combined to form centerpieces for soup kitchen tables.
28. Peace Garden - Turn a vacant lot into a garden or bird sanctuary or create a garden at a local shelter or childcare center. Partner with neighbors or the receiving organization to engage the community in planning and helping.
29. Create Environmentally Friendly Household Cleaners - Make a kit containing safe and healthy household cleaners for friends and family.
30. Community Pancake Breakfast - Organize a free pancake breakfast for community members to celebrate MLK Day, a day when students will not be at school to receive free breakfast. Fundraise for the necessary ingredients and resources, and allow families to make donations at the door if they choose.
31. Stimulate through Art - Give low-income preschoolers a head start by creating felt boards that stimulate curiosity, creativity and learning about the world around them.
Children’s Books on Dr. King:
Martin’s Big Words by Doreen Rappaport (grades K- 5)
Martin Luther King Jr. Day by Linda Lowery (grades K-5)
Lives and Times Martin Luther King, Jr. by Emma Lynch (grades K-3)
A Picture Book of Martin Luther King, Jr. by Robert Casilla (grades K-3)
Who Was Martin Luther King Jr.? by Bonnie Bader (grades 3-5)
Martin Luther King, Jr. by Amy Pastan (grades 5-8)
The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr. by Martin Luther King Jr. and Clayborne Carson (grades 7-8)
Martin Luther King, Jr.: A Life by Marshall Frady (grades 7-8)
M.L.K. Journey of a King by Tonya Bolden (grades 8-12)
A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr. by Martin Luther King and James M. Washington (all ages)
Copyright 2010 (c) Children for Children/Youth HandsOn Network
“Everybody can be great, because everybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve. You don’t have to know about Plato and Aristotle to serve. You don’t have to know Einstein’s “Theory of Relativity” to serve. You don’t have to know the Second Theory of Thermal Dynamics in Physics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace, a soul generated by love, and you can be that servant.” Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
