Serve your community on MLK Day

Martin Luther King, Jr. once dreamed of a “Beloved Community”—a place where everyone is respected and free from poverty, hunger, and hate. This year marks the 30th anniversary of the MLK Day of Service, and it’s a great time to reflect on Dr. King’s vision and act in making it a reality.

As the commission on national service and volunteerism, Serve Washington and its programs, share this philosophy. We believe service, volunteerism and civic engagement can improve lives, expand opportunities to meet local critical needs and strengthen capacity to create healthy and resilient communities.

As Martin Luther King Jr. Day approaches on Jan. 20, we invite everyone to participate in a service activity this month. Whether big or small, formal or informal, your individual actions make a difference!

How You Can Get Involved

Here are just a few examples of ways to serve:

• Assist a nonprofit or community organization in their respective work.
• Write cards to residents of a senior center or deployed military members.
• Collect supplies or make toys for an animal shelter, or do a neighborhood food drive for the food bank.
• Assist a neighbor or coworker in need.

This by no means covers every way you can serve, but we hope these suggestions inspire you to come up with your own!

Find a Service Project

Need ideas? Serve Washington has resources to help you get started:

Serve Washington’s “Get Connected” Tool

This tool lets you search for volunteer opportunities in your community. Results can be filtered by location, focus area, and more. It also has a special section highlighting MLK Day projects.

National Resources

Websites like Idealist, Just Serve and Volunteer Match let you search for local projects by zip code.

AmeriCorps and Points of Light have lists of projects that can be done in any community by yourself, or in a group.

Host a Project

Planning your own activity? Many platforms like those mentioned above let you register it to recruit additional volunteers!

Learn About Dr. King’s Legacy

Take time to explore Dr. King’s life and work. The King Center is hosting some virtual events throughout January, including:

• Beloved Community Book Reading: A professional storyteller will use animated reading, voices and expressive storytelling techniques. A Q&A session for children and parents follows (Jan. 14)
• Beloved Community Global and Youth summits: (Jan. 15-16): Keynotes, panels, and networking.

New this year is the Coretta Scott King Rose Gallery, a free, virtual experience featuring photos and stories celebrating her work for peace and equity.

Online Library and Videos: Visit the King Center’s library to view a series of videos about historical leaders and everyday people who have contributed to creating the Beloved Community.  It has a virtual tour of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Historical Park in Atlanta, recorded children’s book readings and discussions with authors. There’s also a series of civil rights talks and panels with leaders of the Civil Rights Movement and people who knew them.

Share Your Volunteer Story

We’d love to hear about your service! Share photos, videos, or stories by tagging us on Facebook, Instagram or X; upload them through our Volunteer Story Project portal or email them to us! We’ll feature as many stories as possible on our channels.

Together, let’s honor Dr. King’s dream by giving back and building bridges in our communities.

How will you serve this MLK Day?