PORT ANGELES — Roosevelt Elementary School students envision a world devoid of smoking, littering, bullying and war, a world where people are kind to each other and animals.
The children’s messages were part of a “dream quilt” assembled by community members Monday to commemorate the life and work of Martin Luther King Jr.
Students from the Port Angeles School District made scores of paper tiles with pictures and slogans of changes they would like to see.
Nearly 30 AmeriCorps members and other volunteers assembled the tiles into a giant quilt at the Vern Burton Community Center in Port Angeles.
The quilt will be displayed at local businesses and schools.
“It’s a good experience that you might not necessarily get unless you take the time to do a project like this,” said Shivani Kakde, a member of the North Olympic AmeriCorps.
“Think of the children. It’s all about the children.”
AmeriCorps volunteers gave classroom talks about King at area schools last week, AmeriCorps member Andrew Rahal said.
Monday was a federal holiday marking the birthday of King.
The civil rights leader, assassinated April 4, 1968, would have celebrated his 82nd birthday Sunday had he lived.
Monday also was also a day of service for many.
“Martin Luther King Jr. Day is a national day of service for service agencies, so AmeriCorps pushes all their members across the country to do some kind of service on this day,” explained Lee Routledge of North Olympic AmeriCorps.
On the other side of the gymnasium, about a dozen members of the Washington Conservation Corps painted tiles that will be used in the Port Angeles community garden across Fifth Street from City Hall.
Other Conservation Corps members braved the chilly conditions to move sod at the 2-year-old garden.
Port Angeles City Councilman Pat Downie was scheduled to discuss “The Power of Continuing Service in our Community” later in the six-hour event.
A tree-planting project and a cleanup at a local Head Start office was canceled because of inclement weather.
PT commemorations
In Port Townsend, about 175 people gathered at Quimper Unitarian Universalist Fellowship to celebrate King’s words and deeds with a two-hour inaugural MLK Day Celebration of Justice and Service.
The program included four short speeches on specific topics: Colleen Johnson on white privilege, Diane Bommer on economic justice, Libby Palmer on immigration issues and Joseph Bednarik on community service.
Also in Port Townsend on Monday was a screening of “The Beloved Community.”
The film, made by Jefferson Community School students, illustrated some of the ways in which Port Townsend is creating King’s ideal of self-sustaining communities that work together to share resources, said Paulette Lack, head of Jefferson Community School.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
