On the holiday celebrating Martin Luther King Jr., there were several events around the D.C. region honoring the Civil Rights Movement leader’s memory.
Families packed into downtown Silver Spring’s Civic Building at Veterans Plaza to do more than a single day’s service; they looked into ways they could help their communities throughout the year.
The Montgomery Volunteer Center and the Montgomery County Alumnae chapter of the Delta Sigma Theta sorority hosted the event.
Outside, people lined up to donate blood at the Children’s National Hospital’s bloodmobile.
Inside, crowds milled about tables representing civic groups, nonprofit organizations and county government agencies such as the Board of Elections.
Nena Abdul-Wakeel, president of the Montgomery County alumnae chapter of Delta Sigma Theta sorority, smiled broadly as she looked at the throngs interested in spending their MLK holiday serving others.
“I think people are feeling the need to show up for their communities,” she said. “They want people to know, ‘I care,’ and this is a great way to do it.”
Sylvia Stevens, a member of the service organization, showed off the items donated to the “Dear Project.”
“We collect the forever stamps for the women’s correctional facility in Boyds, Maryland,” Stevens said, explaining the donations help incarcerated women stay in touch with their family members.
A woman who asked that we use her first name, Brittany, brought her children to the event, and was especially interested in the “Dear Project.”
“It may seem like a small thing, but it’s not a small thing to someone who does not have the resources to communicate with their families, so I think it’s a wonderful thing,” she told WTOP.
Brittany said she thought about how correspondence with her own family members matters to her, especially letters and notes from family members who have passed away.
“I keep those and cherish those, and so I know their families will probably do the same in years to come,” she said.
In one of the civic center rooms, people huddled around a table making necklaces — the creation of 14-year-old Isis Idiokitas, an 8th grader at Silver Spring International Middle School. Her Tu Snaps necklaces are made using Legos.
“Tu Snap necklaces are easy to take on and off because you use the Lego as the clasp,” she explained, “For every necklace bought, another necklace is donated to a child living with sickle cell disease.”
Idiokitas was asked about why she chose to focus her community efforts around sickle cell disease education.
“Not a lot of people know about sickle cell, and so it’s a way to raise awareness and advocate for them,” she said of children living with the disease.
County council member Kristin Mink spent part of her morning at the event in downtown Silver Spring.
“There really is an abundance of opportunities here to dig in and get things done. We are packing comfort care kits, we are learning about all sorts of different volunteer opportunities around the county that happen year round.”
Falls Church comes out to march
Hundreds of folks marched through Falls Church, Virginia, on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, honoring the civil rights icon’s legacy as well as the town’s Black history.
Volunteers read Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech that he gave at the March on Washington on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.
“Here we are all these years later, and it’s so meaningful, so appropriate,” Nikki Henderson with the Tinner Hill Heritage Foundation said about hearing those words.
The crowd, holding signs with King quotes and more contemporary political messages such as “no ICE anytime,” marched from Tinner Hill, where a meeting took place to create the first rural branch of the NAACP in the U.S. over a century ago.
“It’s an awfully, awfully cold day, but I’m not surprised that people came out anyway. They’re committed,” Henderson said.
One woman marched with the crowd to Falls Church Episcopal with a sign with her favorite King quote.
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.”
WTOP’s Luke Lukert contributed to this story.
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