Monday is Martin Luther King Day – a day that was initiated by congress in 1994 as a Day of Service. It is therefore a day when we have an opportunity give back to our communities, to volunteer and create neighborhood projects that help others.

Mercifully this is not a day when we are barraged with cheesy commercials encouraging us to shop at deep discounts. Rather this is a special day that honors Dr. King into a “national day of community service grounded in his teachings of nonviolence and social justice”.

Most likely your kids are going to be doing something next week (either on Monday or sometime later that week) that will be helping people in their community through an organization. It would be fun to join in with your family and perform some sort of act of kindness by giving back to others.

If you are not sure how to participate you can visit several sites that focus on this day – Martin Luther King’s government site; the Corporation for National and Community Service and the USA Service organization, established by the President-elect, are just three sites that provide a wealth of information.

The “Renew America Together” initiative asks all Americans to make an ongoing commitment to serve their communities – its remarkable, invigorating and inspirational to see so many volunteer events being set up for January 19th and beyond.

We hope you enjoy your community volunteer event.