12th Annual MLK Day of Service
January 10, 2012
Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Anyone can be great because everybody can serve.” It can be easy for a volunteer to question the difference they can make. What can really change in an afternoon of volunteering? A lot.
Hands On Birmingham’s 12th Annual MLK Day of Service is just one example of how the community can change in one afternoon. On Monday, January 16th hundreds of volunteers of all ages, races, ethnicity, religion and gender will band together to make one movement that will leave a huge impact. This year we have around 35 projects in the community that will cover a wide range of impact areas such as environment, education, homelessness and hunger, and disaster relief efforts (just to name a few..)
With the declining economy and the community still on the long road to recovery from the April 27th tornadoes the need for volunteers is greater than ever. MLK Day of Service engages over 1,000 volunteers in just one day. One hour of volunteer labor is worth $17.70 in the state of Alabama. This MLK Day of Service, HOB volunteers will be worth around $70,000 but that is just a number.
The impact that our volunteers will make on Monday will mean more than just money. It will mean a warm meal in an empty stomach, a more beautiful park for our children to enjoy, smiling senior citizens at a retirement home, a new home for a family that dreamed of one, a day of fun for children, and a community that came together to help one another.
That is exactly what Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. meant when he said anybody can be great. It is easy to look at an afternoon of volunteering as just one afternoon, but that one afternoon could mean the world to someone in need.
If you are interested in being a part of MLK Day, please visit http://www.handsonbirmingham.org/MLK and sign up for one of our many great projects.
HOB would love to thank all of our amazing sponsors for making this MLK Day of Service a possibility!
