For thousands of people across the country, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is a day of service to their community. About 500 volunteers in Bridgeport, Connecticut spent today doing things like sweeping streets and putting together food packages for low-income residents.
Volunteer Sherise Farill pushed a mop down the narrow halls of Harrison Apartments, a low-income housing unit in Bridgeport. About 20 fellow volunteers cleaned up the halls around her. Most of them are students from the University of Bridgeport, like Katherine Collado.
“We are cleaning up floors and windows, and just making it a little more comfortable for the residents,” she said.
This is one of about half a dozen Martin Luther King Day projects going on around Bridgeport. There are also discussion groups where volunteers talk about what King’s message means today. Collado said for her, community service is the best way to honor King.
“It’s a way to remember him for all he’s done, and it’s kind of a way of giving back to him for all he tried to accomplish,” she said.
The University of Bridgeport organizes the Martin Luther King Day of Service in Bridgeport. It’s a national event sponsored by dozens of non-profits around the country. It was started in 1994 by Georgia congressman and civil rights leader John Lewis. Lewis is the last living speaker from the 1963 March on Washington, where King delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech.
