MLK Day of Service and Volunteerism

MLK Day of Service is this Monday the 17th.

As we honor the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. it's good to take a day to shine a spotlight on the ways to get involved in our communities.

Volunteering can be a rewarding experience, and it's something that my family instilled in me from a young age. I can't remember a time when my parents were not volunteering with the Lions Club or at church or at school (after their work was done) or other things throughout the community. Both my mother and father were teachers, serving the public by educating future generations. As was my grandmother, and I have a Bachelor of Science degree in Social Studies Education.

My volunteer work was at first as a tag along with my parents, but later on it was on my own. Picking up litter along the road, planting things in the spring around town, working the church rummage sale, etc.

The Ye Olde Opera House Community Theater in Spring Grove took a lot of my volunteer time over the course of the last 13 years. Cleaning, building, painting, acting, serving, managing, etc.

I spent the 2009-2010 school year as a member of MN Reading Corps (an AmeriCorps program). I spent the year tutoring students ages K-3 with their reading skills at a Winona Elementary School.

More recently I have been volunteering at a local Catholic Worker House in La Crosse, WI called "Place of Grace." Washing dishes was my main thing, but another part of returning to PoG over and over again is a sense of community.

Chatting with people who do need help, whether it be emotional, financial, social or a combination of all of three, it continues to open my eyes to the parts of the community that tend to get swept under the rug, or at least are tried to.

Our communities are always in need of a helping hand, so if you have time check out this link, it can connect you to things to do in your community even beyond Monday's MLK Day of Service.