Adia Shabazz
A “Day On”, not a day off. For many years now, the holiday honoring the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. has been a day for people to use their days off from work and school to memorialize King in action. There are numerous opportunities for Greater Richmond residents to be agents of change on and around January 20th. These chances to affect positive change throughout the city are not restricted to just January 20th, but are connected to many local organizations where willing hands and hearts can continue to contribute to the well-being of our community throughout the year.
Culture4MyKids, Inc. will be spending the MLK day of service giving out care packages to the homeless. Have you ever seen someone in need while driving home from work or riding the bus home from school? Culture4MyKids, Inc. welcomes you to come help assemble care packages and honor the legacy of MLK on January 20th, by distributing them to people in your neighborhood. On January 17th from 5 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., the following items will be collected for assembly into care packages:
- Socks
- Kleenex pocket tissues
- Moist/Antibacterial Wipes
- Mouth Wash/Gum
- Gift cards to Starbucks or the Grocery Store
- Bottled Water
- Granola Bars/Snacks
- Chapstick
- Sanitary Products
- Hats/Gloves
- Large sandwich bags
On Friday, January 17, 2014, Culture4MyKids, Inc invites all interested volunteers to meet to complete collecting items for care packages and begin assembling the care packages to be passed out. All volunteers are invited to meet at the Powhatan Community Center located at 5051 North Hampton Street. Donations will be accepted on that day between 5 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. Packages will be assembled between 6:30 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. Assembled packages will be given to students who participate in donating and assembling for dissemination in neighborhoods of Richmond youth on Monday, January 20th. Community service hours will be available for this event. For more information, contact CM4K at info@culture4mykids.org or 804-410-1075.
Richmond Prep is hosting Dream Works, A Day of Service Event. Richmond Prep offers this event in order to contribute to the character development of students by allowing them a community service outlet. The organizers at Richmond Prep feel it is necessary that children be aware of the needs of their communities and lend a hand to help maintain, protect and grow them. This year’s event is the second annual Dream Works event hosted by Richmond Prep.
Last year’s Dream Works event was one day; this year, it has been extended to a three-day event, beginning on January 18th and concluding on January 20th.
- On January 18, Dream Works will feature a Community Clean-Up from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. along the Boulevard Corridor.
- January 19th will be an opportunity to Feed the Community from 12 p.m.-2 p.m. in Monroe Park
- January 20th from 12 p.m.-4 p.m. Community Service themed Interactive Activity Stations will be made available for youth of various ages. Students will learn about different ways of getting involved in the community by doing hands-on geared towards different forms of community service (i.e. building a model house out of wooden sticks at a station sponsored by a home building non-profit)
Richmond Prep welcomes area businesses, non-profits, and individuals to help support Dream Works by way of the following: sponsoring an IAS; In-Kind/ monetary donations (tax deductible); and /or providing volunteers.
Dream Works promises to be another inspirational experience honoring the life and legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. from January 18th – January 20th! For more information, please contact L. Lynne Jones, 804.716.6273 (Voicemail ext. 340), www.richmondprep.org.
The Young Adult Ministry of Rising Mount Zion Baptist Church will be hosting a panel discussion for Martin Luther King Day. The event will be held Monday, January 20th, from 10 a.m.-12 p.m. at Rising Mount Zion Baptist Church located at 8500 New Kent Hwy., New Kent, VA 23124. The RMZBC Young Adults invite all who are interested to honor Dr. King’s legacy by engaging in a discussion about issues in our community. The panel and community discussion will be based around issues presented in Dr. King’s last great work, Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community? For More information please contact Rev. Sean T. Young, RMZBC youth and young adult minister, at min.styoung@yahoo.com.
Elegba Folklore Society, located at 101 East Broad Street, Richmond, Virginia 23219 will be hosting a forum entitled At the Crossroads: Black Males + Race, Place & Identity. The discussion will be led by VCU African American Studies Professor, Derrick Lanois.
The conversation will start at 6 p.m. on January 20th. At the Crossroads: Black Males + Race, Place & Identity will center around body + place politics of African American men in the 21st century. Using Thierry Laurence’s photography in Body as Art, the complexities that are facing African American men in today’s society whether social, cultural, artistic, and/or political will be explored. The journey to understand the dynamic and ever changing conditions has to be rooted in history and begin with a discussion of place and identity in Africa prior to enslavement, and currently, then spanning the timeline through and forward to a look at place and identity as expressed in hip hop. Do African American men have a place and identity that is honored, as our cultural DNA and protocols mandate, valued, nurtured and understood, or do they serve as the poster child of what is wrong today—criminal, uneducated, shiftless and to be feared/ignored? Professor Derrick Lanois will facilitate this King Day discussion to help us see what has happened historically to “place” African American men in the current dialogue and how to shift the conversation.
There are many opportunities to be in service honoring the life and legacy of Martin Luther King, far too many to list in this article. However, a visit to websites like http://www.allforgood.org and http://www.handsonrva.org/mlkday will yield results like:
- A screening of Troop 491: Adventures of the Muddy Lions will occur at The Byrd Theatre on Monday, January 20th from 1:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. Registration is required. HandsOn will be partnering with the Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities and theVirginia Mentoring Partnership to host the showing of “Troop 491: Adventures of the Muddy Lions.” This film was shot in Richmond and produced locally. Following the film is a facilitated discussion on its themes, MLK Day, and how we can all commit ourselves to service in 2014. Refreshments will be provided by Starbucks.
- ReUse/ReCycle
Richmond, VA 23224
Monday, January 20, 2014
CARITAS
- MLK Service Day/Beautification Day At Swansboro Elementary
3160 Midlothian Turnpike
Richmond, VA 23224
Saturday, January 18, 2014
Virginia Mentoring Partnership
- Dreams & Visions Party
Richmond VA 23220
Monday, January 20, 2014
Virginia Supportive Housing
- Huguenot Flatwater Invasive Species Removal
Richmond VA 23235
Monday, January 20, 2014
James River Park System
In addition to the opportunities to make a change on the King Holiday, there are also numerous chances to volunteer throughout the year and affect change in the life of a child or the well-being of a community. Please visit these sites and organizations in your neighborhoods to stay aware of where your talents can best be of service. Martin Luther King’s legacy is wide and varied; there is so much that he’s given to our communities and world as a whole. Use this celebration of his life to truly learn what he has charged us to do through his life of leadership, service and sacrifice. Find somewhere to get involved and let this “day on” be a catalyst to keep you involved throughout the year.
