Melrose Preps For Annual MLK Day of Service

MELROSE, MA — Melrose will bring back its annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Of Service next month after a two-year COVID-19 hiatus, city officials announced last week.

The local program is organized by the Melrose Human Rights Commission and is set for Monday, Jan. 16.

It aims to promote various community service activities in line with the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day holiday each year.

Past activities have ranged from card-making programs for the patients and staff of Melrose-Wakefield Hospital to programs helping prepare food for local food pantries.

This year’s Melrose Day of Service aims to provide service opportunities across the city between 10 a.m. and 12 p.m. on Jan. 16 where community members can sign up to participate.

Organizations with a service idea or organizations that would be interested in hosting volunteers should indicate their interest via an online Google Form by Wednesday of this week. Groups will be asked to include an idea for a service activity, a host location and an estimate for the number of spots available for volunteers in their program, officials said last week.

Any groups needing help finding a space to host and/or selecting a community service idea for their space can reach out to the Human Rights Commission by email at melrosehrc@gmail.com for help coordinating plans.

Officials reiterated their call for volunteers last week as this week’s deadline approaches.

“The success of this day of service is contingent upon community organizations helping to brainstorm a service idea and/or hosting the event,” officials said.

Legislation in 1994 looked to designate Martin Luther King Jr. Day as “a day on, not a day off,” as noted in Melrose’s recent Day of Service announcement. The result has been a push for service actions aimed at strengthening communities, empowering individuals and moving communities closer to King's envisioned "Beloved Community" idea, according to local officials.

"In Dr. King’s Beloved Community, poverty, hunger, and homelessness will not be tolerated because international standards of human decency will not allow it," officials said.

Day of Service programs will spread far beyond Melrose next month, with other programs in Boston and other area communities.