Day of Service community volunteer work and other commemorations will mark Martin Luther King Jr. Day on the North Olympic Peninsula today.
Today is a federal holiday marking the birthday of King, who was born Jan. 15, 1929, and was assassinated at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tenn., on April 4, 1968, at the age of 39.
Many perform community volunteer work on the holiday to commemorate King, a prominent leader of the civil-rights movement and a Nobel Peace Prize laureate.
Olympic National Park
Olympic National Park, will waive entrance fees today and also will offer free screenings of a 30-minute video “A New Time, a New Voice,” about the life and work of King, at the Olympic National Park Visitor Center, 3002 Mount Angeles Road in Port Angeles.
Screenings are set for
11 a.m. and 2 p.m. today. Additional screenings will be available upon request at the visitor center, which is open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily.
Hurricane Ridge Road and the Hurricane Ridge Visitor Center will be open from 9 a.m. until dusk today, if the weather permits.
Ranger-guided snowshoe walks will be offered at
2 p.m., and the snack bar and ski rental shop are expected to be open, along with the downhill ski area rope tows.
Weather conditions are available at 360-565-3131 or www.nps.gov/olym.
All Points Charters & Tours will provide twice-daily van service from downtown Port Angeles to Hurricane Ridge today and Monday for $20 per person, with children age 7 to 12 costing $10.
For reservations, phone 360-460-7131 or email tours@goallpoints.com.
Commemorations planned in Clallam and Jefferson counties today are:
Red Cross service
Volunteers will provide home fire-safety information during a canvas of neighborhoods in Port Angeles, Sequim, Forks and Neah Bay beginning at about 10 a.m.
Volunteers will talk with residents on ways to heat and cook safely, the value of smoke alarms, and the need to create and practice a household fire escape plan.
Fire safety and prevention door hangars will be left for those not at home.
The canvassing is sponsored by the Olympic Peninsula chapter of the American Red Cross in collaboration with Clallam County Fire District No. 3, Port Angeles Girl Scout Troop 50648, American Red Cross King and Kitsap county AmeriCorps teams and the Red Cross Disaster Action Teams from Forks and Neah Bay.
Fire safety information is available at www.redcross.org or 360-457-7933.
Port Angeles
YMCA Day of Service
PORT ANGELES — The Clallam County Family YMCA AmeriCorps team will host events from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the YMCA, 302 S. Francis St.
Along with children’s activities, free family portraits, community speakers and a warm-clothing, book and school supply drive, visitors can write letters to past and present members of the Coast Guard and Civilian Conservation Corps and to veterans.
They also can register for service projects elsewhere in town, such as at the Port Angeles Food Bank and the Olympic Peninsula Humane Society, said Nikki Henson, coordinator and AmeriCorps member.
Representatives of such organizations as Habitat for Humanity of Clallam County, the Dream Center and the United Way of Clallam County will talk about volunteer opportunities throughout the year, she added.
The Youth United Letter in Service Program at Port Angeles High School, which rewards high school students for community service, will be relaunched, said Jody Moss, United Way director.
To learn more about the day’s events, visit www.
clallamcountyymca.org or phone 360-452-9244.
For more information about Youth United Letter in Service Program, visit www.unitedwayclallam.org.
Work party
PORT ANGELES — The North Olympic Land Trust will host a volunteer work party from 1:30 p.m. to
3:30 p.m.
Volunteers will remove Scotch broom, a non-native invasive plant, at the end of Siebert Creek Road between Port Angeles and Sequim off U.S. Highway 101 just east of Old Olympic Highway.
RSVPs are encouraged but not required to Lorrie Campbell, stewardship director, at 360-417-1815, ext. 7, or lorrie@nolt.org.
Port Townsend and jefferson county
Work on Adventuress
PORT TOWNSEND — Volunteers can help refurbish the schooner Adventuress at Haven Boatworks in the Boat Haven Marina from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. today.
Lunch will be provided. Children are welcome if accompanied by adults.
RSVP to daniel@sound
exp.org or 360-379-0438.
For more information, visit www.soundexp.org.
Rose hosts tribute
PORT TOWNSEND — A free screening of the film “The Loving Story” will be presented at the Rose Theatre at 1 p.m.
Space is limited, so though the screening is free, tickets must be picked up at the Rose box office, 221 Taylor St.
The unrated 77-minute documentary about Mildred and Richard Loving tells of their interracial marriage being declared illegal in 1958 in their home state of Virginia.
They refused to leave one another and, with the help of the American Civil Liberties Union, pursued their right to happiness.
Irondale Beach cleanup
IRONDALE — Lots of volunteers will be needed at Irondale Beach County Park from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., said Jac Entringer with the North Olympic Salmon Coalition.
“Two- or three-hundred people would not be too many, as long as you carpool or ride the bus, that is,” she said.
Volunteers will remove invasive species such as English Ivy from the park at 526 Moore St.
The Day of Service — which prepares the park for a reopening ceremony at 1:30 p.m. Thursday — is a partnership among the salmon coalition, Jefferson County Parks and Recreation, the Washington Conservation Corps, the Friends of Chimacum Creek and the YMCA, said Matt Tyler, county parks and recreation director.
The park had been closed while the state Department of Ecology cleaned the former Irondale Iron and Steel site of petroleum hydrocarbons and metals.
A celebration of the Day of Service, with light refreshments and hot coffee, is planned at 1 p.m.
To register, email Entringer at volunteer@nosc.org.
Quimper church
PORT TOWNSEND — Quimper Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 2333 San Juan Ave., plans an interfaith-communitywide service at 10:30 a.m.
“Fulfilling the Dream” will include multiple choirs, reflections, music and song.
The service will be held in the church’s sanctuary. A free-will offering will be taken.
Child care and special activities will be provided for children of all ages in the Education Building.
Weed pull
PORT TOWNSEND — Volunteers will pull noxious weeds on the beach dunes at Fort Worden State Park from noon to 3 p.m.
Volunteers for the weed pull, organized by the AmeriCorps staff at the Port Townsend Marine Science Center, will meet in the Natural History Exhibit portico.
Tools and limited gloves will be provided. Warm outdoor clothing is suggested.
For more information, contact Amber Heasley at AHeasley@PTMSC.org or 360-385-5582, ext. 110.
