MLK Day of Service: Things Anyone Can Do Right Now to Make the World a Little Better
On Monday, January 16, 2012, San Antonio will celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday with the 25th Annual Martin Luther King Day Parade (the largest such parade in the nation). On this day, we can take the time to pause and reflect where we have been as a nation and how far we’ve come. Though the current political environment can often be toxic and vitriolic, we can all agree that we do, in fact, still live in one of the greatest nations ever. This is also a day where we as individuals are called to serve our communities, so I want to let you know about the MLK Day of Service.
I’ve often thought that if it were up to me to make the rules, I would make a 2-year service commitment obligatory for all young people graduating from high school in America. It would be similar to Israel’s mandatory draft at the age of 18 for both men and women – except you would have the choice of military service or public service. In this perfect little world of mine, both service commitments would involve the same sense of honor and patriotism we confer upon those who offer themselves for duty to the armed forces, but that sense of duty and civic pride would also be expanded to include domestic and foreign public service and rebuilding programs, such as serving one’s country by rebuilding parts of the nation destroyed by natural disasters, or building low-income housing, or repairing and beautifying city parks and playgrounds, or serving as foreign goodwill ambassadors by mitigating poverty in the Peace Corps abroad.
Wishful thinking, I know. But there are a lot of things that an individual can do without being involuntarily drafted to do so, or being a hopeless idealist. Most people don’t have a lot of money (and even less time) to do as much as they wish they could. So here are a few easy things that any normal workaday person who has the privilege of a job and home and a few extra dollars can do to make his or her little corner of the world a little bit better; and it probably wouldn’t even stray too far from the regular routine:
If you’re like most people, you do your grocery shopping every week. I like to go on Mondays because it’s quieter and there’s nothing good on TV. While you’re at the grocery store doing your weekly shopping, keep one of these on your list:
- A bag of socks and underwear to donate to a homeless shelter, especially in children’s sizes. You would be very surprised to know how many families with children rely on homeless shelters for basic living assistance. You can either take a detour sometime during the week to drop these items off, or if your church regularly takes a collection, you can take leave these items in your car and drop them off in the collection box next time you go to service.
- Buy an extra children’s book. You can drop this off at your child’s school as a donation to the school library. This way, you can teach your child that giving can be done all year round instead of just Christmas, and it still feels just as good.
- Buy a game or toy to donate to the children’s wing at your nearby hospital. There are some kids that spend a lot of time in the hospital, and they’ve probably already read every book and played every game there. Anything to break up the monotony is good.
- If you don’t have kids, you can do what I do: buy an extra bag of dog or cat food at the grocery store and take a ride over to the animal shelter to drop it off. You get to look at all the adorable animals, and you may even end up coming home with a new family member. Instant hero.
- Easier still, you could walk over to your pantry right now and take out all the canned goods that you know you’re not going to use, make sure they’re not expired, put those in a bag, and drive them over to your food bank. You can also add a couple of cans of nonperishable food to your weekly grocery list for the food bank. This is very inexpensive and it goes a long way to help the neediest in our communities. And again, if your church has a collection bin for the food bank,you can just drop them off when you normally go to service.
If you’re interested in learning more about the Martin Luther King Day of Service, go to http://mlkday.gov/serve/
If you are a hopeless idealist, here are a few other ways to change the world right now:
Get involved in community affairs, government, or politics:
Held or run for political office
Served on a committee for some local organizations
Make a speech
Sign or start a petition (in-person or online)
Write or call a politician at the state, local or national level
Work for a political party
Be an active member of any group that tries to influence public policy or government
Serve as an officer for some club or organization
Attended a political rally, speech, or organized protest of any kind
Take a survey
Attend a public meeting on city or school district affairs
Write a letter or e-mail to the editor of a newspaper, magazine, online publication, or call a live radio or TV show to express an opinion
Write an article for a magazine, newspaper, or online publication advocating for public service
Other things you can do:
Make a $25 microloan at kiva.org
Look for a non-profit job at Idealist.org
Spend a Saturday at a Habitat for Humanity build
Donate your old magazines to a hospital
Donate a gently used coat to a homeless shelter
Donate old towels or blankets to an animal shelter
Be a mentor at a Boys and Girls club
Volunteer for City Year
Look for green projects on takepart.com
Donate to Locks of Love
Be a driver volunteer for Meals on Wheels
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