Dozens of volunteers throughout the North Olympic Peninsula gave up their holiday Monday to lend a helping hand in the spirit of the holiday’s namesake.
The service events were organized to coincide with Martin Luther King Jr. Day, which celebrates the slain civil rights leader’s birthday of Jan. 15 and is held on the Monday closest to that date.
“This is the kind of thing Martin Luther King Jr. would want people to do,” said Caroline Wolden, a volunteer who was helping paint a Port Angeles apartment which will be let to a homeless family.
Painting apartment
About a dozen volunteers gathered at the Evergreen Family Village, which is run by Serenity House.
“These apartments are all two-year transitional housing,” said Kim Leach, lead case manager.
“We try to get the apartments turned around as quickly as possible, and each time they need painted and prepped, so this is really helpful to get a new family in here as quickly as possible.”
In Port Townsend, about 20 volunteers organized by AmeriCorps helped to put up siding and caulk and paint a Habitat for Humanity house which is being built on 21st Street.
“We decided to this because Martin Luther King Jr. Day is really about every day serving the community,” said Sarah Dommel, one of the organizers.
“He served our country and did so much for equal rights that we want to also do what we can to give back.”
For food banks
In the Sequim area, the Olympic Gleaners — a group which meets monthly to glean at local farms — gathered up stray vegetables, said Cali Keck.
“A lot of the time there will be things like a head of cabbage that has been frozen over,” she said.
“The outer leaves will be mushy, but by removing those leaves there is a smaller, but perfectly good cabbage inside.
“Then we take them to the local food banks in Port Angeles and Port Townsend.”
The group gleaned at Nash’s Organics and collected about 300 pounds of food, Keck said.
On the West End, the Forks Elks Club was host to a multicultural event which invited Native Americans from the Quileute, Quinault and Hoh tribes to perform traditional songs and dances.
Community members of Mexican and Guatemalan heritage were also invited to share traditional dances in a “Day of Diversity,” organized by AmeriCorps.
Remodeling tips
The work at Port Angeles’ Evergreen Family Village featured health educator Jon Donovan McKissick, who showed the other volunteers how the remodeling work is done, said Diane Charles-Murphey, who helped organize the project.
“He was really amazing to help give us pointers, and he worked with the ‘Paint the Town’ project so he knew what he was doing,” said Charles-Murphey.
The group of mostly AmeriCorps members had the two-bedroom apartment in fresh paint in about five hours.
“Volunteering is really good perspective and exposure for us,” said Casey Theis, one of the volunteers.
“This is the kind of thing that is needed in a community.
“This is the kind of thing that we should be helping out with all the time — not just for one day a year.”
Children’s project
At Hamilton Elementary School in Port Angeles, parents and children gathered to create “paper quilts.”
The squares for the decorative quilts were made my students in the Port Angeles School District.
The students at all of the district’s schools discussed King’s famous “I have a dream” speech.
They were then asked to draw a picture of their dreams for the future.
“We had all sorts of responses,” said Alexa Hoffman, an AmeriCorps member who helped coordinate the event.
“We had a lot of environmentally friendly ones, a lot of desire for better health.”
While some kids took on big issues others had other ideas — such as one square which called for spray-on shoes in the future world.
“When we came up with this project we wanted something that would really involve the kids,” Paige Boyer said.
“This taught about King’s dreams while also allowing the kids to start dreaming about their own future and how they might impact that future.”
King documentary
Also in Port Angeles, about two dozen people stopped by the Olympic National Park Visitor Center on Mount Angeles Road to watch “A New Time, A New Voice,” a 30-minute video about King’s life.
“Watching it you get a little teary,” said park ranger Janis Burger.
“Of course it is difficult to think about and watch anything about his life and times and not get emotional.”
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Reporter Paige Dickerson can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at paige.dickerson@peninsuladailynews.com.
