Building homes, delivering meals, refurbishing schools, reading to children, signing up mentors and much, much more, over 500,000 Americans honored Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. by serving on the January 21, 2008 King Holiday. This historic turnout is the largest ever in the 13 years since Congress encouraged Americans to observe the King Holiday as a national day of service. Many Americans will continue working toward King’s dream by participating in ongoing activities such as such as 40 Days of Nonviolence: Building the Beloved Community, the Semester of Service, and National Mentoring Month. The King Day of Service is led by the King Center for Nonviolent Social Change and Corporation for National and Community Service, which engages four million Americans in service each year through Senior Corps, AmeriCorps, and Learn and Serve America.

Fast Facts

• More than 500,000 volunteers served in more than 5,200 projects in all 50 states
      
• The number of groups organizing King Day projects more than doubled from last year, from 862 to 2,197
      
• Record participation from elected officials including President George Bush and First Lady Laura Bush (press release), Members of Congress, Governors, and Mayors
      
• Growing corporate involvement from Fortune 500 companies to small businesses
      
• Major national and local media coverage including NBC, ABC, CNN, Fox, USA Today and AP

Project Highlights

• Philadelphia, Penn.: With more 60,000 volunteers, Philadelphia led the nation as the city with the most volunteers. Through 600 projects, they assembled school supplies and clothing for homeless children, weatherized homes for seniors, held a free legal clinic, refurbished donated computers, and joined a “Making Philly Safer” town hall meeting.
       
• Washington, D.C.: A record 20,000 volunteers, including President Bush and Mayor Adrian Fenty, served at 148 project sites ranging including cleaning a large homeless shelter, school renovation, creek restoration, and home construction. (Click here to watch other videos from Washington, D.C. area projects)
      
• Los Angeles, Calif.: Tens of thousands of volunteers engaged in a variety of projects, including a Gang Summit, beautifying the Union Rescue Mission, gang summit, and removing weeds, litter, and graffiti from the homes of elderly residents.
      
• Atlanta, Ga.: In Dr. King’s birthplace, more than 7,000 volunteers served through 60 projects organized by Hands On Atlanta as part of the 15th annual Hands On Atlanta Martin Luther King, Jr. Service Summit.
       
• Louisville, Ky.: More than 2,500 volunteers served in 30 local projects including rehabbing a domestic violence center.
      
• Miami, Fl.: More than 700 volunteers planted trees and restored Town Park Village in Overton, a historic black neighborhood.
      
• New Orleans, La.: More than 2,100 volunteers from AmeriCorps, Hands On New Orleans, and other groups restored three public schools including painting, landscaping, and setting up an outdoor classroom.
      
• Oklahoma City, Ok.: A Gang Summit brought together elected and law enforcement officials with community leaders and current and former gang members to discuss steps to decrease the incidence of gang violence.
      
• Bloomington, Ind.: Dentists from the Children’s Dental Health Foundation provided free dental exams, X-rays, and cleanings and a Healthmobile offered vision and hearing screenings.

What People Are Saying

• “Our fellow citizens have got to understand that by loving a neighbor like you'd like to be loved yourself, by reaching out to someone who hurts, by just simply living a life of kindness and compassion, you can make America a better place and fulfill the dream of Martin Luther King.” -- President George W. Bush
      
• "I encourage you to make his beliefs about nonviolence, justice and love for all people a part of your life and to get involved in helping other people to have a better life and doing your part to make a better world.” -- Martin Luther King III
      
• “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,” Isaac Newton Farris Jr., Dr. King’s nephew and CEO of the King Center
      
• “I encourage all Californians to mark this holiday by making it a day of education and service. We can take action by participating in service projects that help people in need.” -- Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (CA)
      
• “We can best honor Dr. King’s legacy of citizen action by working together to improve our communities. Forty years after Dr. King’s death we can still use opportunities like today to help fulfill his dream -- Washington DC Mayor Adrian Fenty
      
• "Martin Luther King's legacy is more than just a day or the month. It needs to be practiced every day, 365 days a year." Academy Award-winning actor Louis Gossett, Jr.
      
• “Dr. King believed that we could overcome poverty, hunger, homelessness, and all forms of discrimination if each of us did our part. Please join me and volunteer in your community on King Day and throughout the year. Make it a day ON, not a day OFF!” Tony Dungy, NFL coach and member of the President's Council on Service and Civic Participation.

Media Coverage

The 2008 King Day of Service received unprecedented national and local media coverage. National media coverage included pieces on NBC, ABC’s “Good Morning America,” CNN, Fox, C-SPAN, USA Today, the Washington Post, Associated Press, along with hundreds of local television and radio stories. Dozens of newspapers ran editorials urging service on the holiday and hundreds of regional and local newspapers ran news stories about volunteer projects on King Day.

Government Officials

Government officials on the federal, state, and local level joined in King Day projects on an unprecedented scale:

• Federal: President George W. Bush, First Lady Laura Bush, USA Freedom Corps Director Henry Lozano, Corporation for National and Community Service CEO David Eisner, President’s Council on Service and Civic Participation members, Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC), Rep. John Yarmouth (KY), U.S. District Judge Marjorie Rendell (PA).
      
• State: Governor Janet Napolitano (AZ), Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (CA) Governor Christine Gregoire, Washington, Lt. Governor Mitch Landrieu (LA), First Lady Silda Wall Spitzer (NY).
      
• Local: Mayors Michael Bloomberg (New York City), Adrian Fenty (Washington, DC), Michael Nutter (Philadelphia) Ralph Becker (Salt Lake City), Frank Guinta (Manchester, NH), David Cicilline, (Providence, RI), Byron Brown (Buffalo, NY).

Nonprofit Partners

• The organizing backbone of the 2008 King Day of Service Day was the Corporation for National and Community Service’ King Day of Service grantees: the Arizona Governor’s Commission on Service and Volunteerism, Points of Light & Hands On Network, National Alliance of Faith and Justice, Corps Network, and Service for Peace.
      
• Other national partners include the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, American Red Cross, American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, America’s Promise, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Breakthrough Collaborative, City Year, Do Something, First Book, Habitat for Humanity International, HOPE worldwide, King Memorial Foundation, MENTOR, National Marrow Donor Program, Student Conservation Association, United Way of America, Volunteer Match, YouthBuild USA, and Youth Service America.

Corporate Involvement

Corporations across the country helped make the 2008 King Day of Service the most successful ever by providing project funding, organizing projects for employees, and allowing employees time off to take part in activities. National corporate sponsors include Bank of America, Best Buy, Cargill, Cartoon Network, Clear Channel Communications, Comcast, Delta, Kaiser Permanente, Shell Oil Company, Target, UPS, and Wal-Mart. Some examples:

• Shell Oil: more than 300 Shell Oil employees joined with HOPE Worldwide to pack food at the Houston Food Bank, helping in a neighborhood beautification program, and teaching youth about Dr. King.
      
• Kaiser Permanente gave more than 750 employees paid leave to volunteer at 19 sites across the country, including packing boxes at an Oregon food bank, renovating a farmworker center in California, and restoring homes in New Orleans and Gulfport, Miss.

The 2009 King Day of Service will take place on January 19, 2009. We encourage you to get involved. For more information, visit http://www.mlkday.gov.

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