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Melrose Human Rights Commission Seeks Organizations to Participate in MLK Day of Service

The following is a letter to the Melrose community from the Melrose Human Rights Commission, which calls on community organizations to brainstorm service ideas and/or host a service event for MLK Day of Service 2024.
Posted on: December 28, 2023 - 6:00pm
MLK Day of Service

“Our goal is to create a beloved community, and this will require a qualitative change in our souls as well as a quantitative change in our lives.” ~ Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

In 1994, Congress passed the King Holiday and Service Act, designating MLK Day as a national day of service – a day ON, not a day off. The MLK Day of Service is meant to empower individuals, strengthen communities, and move us closer to Dr. King’s vision of a “Beloved Community,” wherein poverty, hunger, and homelessness will not be tolerated because international standards of human decency will not allow it.

The Melrose Human Rights Commission (MHRC) is excited to support opportunities for the Melrose community to volunteer during the annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service on Monday, January 15, 2024, and is seeking Melrose community organizations to brainstorm service ideas and/or host a service event.

On this city-wide MLK Day of Service, community members from across Melrose can sign up for service activities between the hours of 10 AM through 12 NOON.

Sample activities may include:

  • Shopping for school snacks & food pantry needs
  • Making cards for patients and staff of Melrose-Wakefield Hospital
  • MLK kid-friendly art activity 
  • Prepping meals for a local food pantry
  • Collecting donations for Malden Warming Center, Housing Families, and local food pantries
  • Valentine’s for Veterans
  • Clothing drive

The success of this day of service is contingent upon community organizations brainstorming a service idea and/or hosting the event. The MHRC will serve as the clearinghouse to connect volunteers with opportunities and venues/hosts with those in need of space. We are writing to see if your organization would be interested in hosting volunteers to complete a service activity.

If interested, please fill out this Google Form on or before January 5, 2024. Please be prepared to fill in your idea of a service activity, the host location, and how many community volunteers you can feasibly host. *If you are interested in hosting but struggling to think of a service idea and/or in need of MHRC assistance, please reach out by emailing melrosehrc@cityofmelrose.org.

We look forward to your great ideas and continuing to move us closer to Dr. King’s “Beloved Community”!

Sincerely,

The Melrose Human Rights Commission
Linda Apple, Randall Carter, Bonnie Clapp, Doug DiBrielle, Kelsey Lima, Joe Phillips, Jake Rogers, Jen Strasburger, and Fatma Ulku Duru.