Washington D.C. -- From gang summits and health clinics to school renovations and mentor sign-ups, a record number of Americans will honor Dr. King through volunteer service on the January 21st federal holiday.

Organizers are expecting more than 500,000 volunteers to serve in some 5,000 local projects taking place in all 50 states. Participation has grown each year since 1994, when Congress passed legislation encouraging the holiday to be observed as a national day of service.

“On King Day and beyond, organizations and communities across America need you – your skills, your experience and your caring – to make a meaningful and urgently needed difference in people’s lives,” said Isaac Newton Farris Jr., Dr. King’s nephew and CEO of the King Center, which has joined with the Corporation for National and Community Service to transform the holiday into a day of hands-on service.

A major focus of this year’s King Day of Service is nonviolence. Gang members will be asked to put down weapons, adults will be asked to become mentors, and tens of thousands of youth will be asked to take a pledge of nonviolence in honor of King’s vision of a peaceful and just “Beloved Community”.

“It’s been 40 years since Dr. King shared his dream and challenged us to make America what it ought to be,” said Corporation CEO David Eisner. “We’ve seen extraordinary progress, yet we’ve fallen short of Dr. King’s ideals. On the King Holiday and throughout the year, we’re asking Americans to answer King’s call to service and make his dream a reality. Visit mlkday.gov to find out how.”

Philadelphia continues to lead the nation with more than 60,000 expected volunteers who will serve in 600 projects including assembling school supplies and clothing for homeless children, weatherizing homes for seniors, holding a free legal clinic, refurbishing donated computers, and joining a “Making Philly Safer” town hall meeting. Here’s a small sample of what’s happening around the country.

• Arizona: More than 100 events will take place across the state to honor Dr. King through community service projects including food collection, neighborhood cleanups, landscaping a women’s shelter, preparing Navajo elders for winter, and a march with Governor Napolitano in Phoenix.
  
• Atlanta: King’s birthplace will host a city-wide day of service with 8,000 volunteers in more than 60 projects throughout the city that serve as a culmination of the 15th annual Hands On Atlanta Martin Luther King, Jr. Service Summit.
  
• Bloomington, Ind: A Children’s Health Day with dentists from the Children’s Dental Health Foundation will provide free dental exams, X-rays, and cleanings and a Healthmobile will offer vision and hearing screenings.
  
• Buffalo: Organized by Western New York AmeriCorps, hundreds of volunteers will carry out a full-scale renovation of the Bob Lanier community center, commemorate Dr. King through art projects, and kick-off a year-long school renovation project with a closing ceremony featuring community leaders and New York First Lady Silda Wall Spitzer.
  
• Chicago: Some 3,500 volunteers will take part in a Celebration of Service day on Saturday by serving with adults living with disabilities, sorting clothing and food, providing companionship to seniors, teaching children about Dr. King, and other activities.
  
• Gulfport, Miss: Young people from the Gulf Coast Conservation Corps will engage 500 volunteers in cleaning up parks in Gulfport and Biloxi and unveiling “A Seat for Social Justice” to honor civil rights heroes as part of a national effort by the Corps Network to involve 4,500 volunteers in community service on the King Holiday.
  
• Louisville, Ky: Service for Peace will ask people to sign a pledge of non-violence, join a block watch or neighborhood group, or mentor a youth as part of a national effort to have 250,000 people pledge to 40 Days of Peace.
  
• Los Angeles: USA Freedom Corps Director Henry Lozano will join 3,000 volunteers in a variety of projects organized by HOPE Worldwide including beautifying the Union Rescue Mission. The National Alliance of Faith and Justice, through its subgrantees and partners, is supporting a gang summit, asking young people to take a pledge of nonviolence, and recruiting thousands of mentors on Justice Sunday; and Los Angeles Conservation Corps AmeriCorps members and volunteers will remove weeds, litter, and graffiti from the homes of 40 elderly residents.
  
• Miami: More than 700 volunteers will plant trees and gardens and paint and restore Town Park Village in Overton, a historic black neighborhood. The work will continue in February when 1,500 employees of the Royal Caribbean Cruise line will come out as part of the 40 Days of Nonviolence initiative.
  
• New Orleans: Organized by Hands On New Orleans, Interfaith Works and other local groups, some 2,000 students, parents, teachers, and AmeriCorps members and volunteers will restore three public schools including painting, landscaping, and setting up an outdoor classroom.
  
• Oklahoma City: A "Silence the Violence" Gang Summit will bring together local elected and law enforcement officials with community leaders and current and former gang members to discuss steps to decrease the incidence of gang violence. Gang members will be encouraged to take the 40 day pledge of nonviolence beginning with King Day 2008.
  
• Washington, DC: Mayor Adrian Fenty and Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton will join 15,000 volunteers in 130 service projects facilitated by Serve DC, with projects ranging from cleanup of the nation’s largest homeless shelter and school renovation projects to restoration of Pope Branch Park and a special Habitat for Humanity build day.

Thousands more projects can be found on the searchable King Day of Service project database at http://www.mlkday.gov. The King Day of Service is led by the Corporation for National and Community Service and the King Center. Dozens of national nonprofit organizations and corporations are partners in the national effort.

The mission of the Corporation for National and Community Service is to improves lives, strengthen communities, and foster civic engagement through service and volunteering. Each year, the Corporation provides opportunities for more than 2 million Americans of all ages and backgrounds to serve their communities and country through Senior Corps, AmeriCorps and Learn and Serve America and the King Day of Service. For more information, go to http://www.nationalservice.gov.

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