LOUISVILLE, KY - The Sixth Annual Greater Louisville Martin Luther King Jr. Season of Service 2009 sponsored by the Service for Peace organization and RSVP will launch on Wednesday, January 7, 2009 at Memorial Auditorium from 10:00 am to 11:30 a.m.

Over 100 senior volunteers with RSVP will receive training on how to implement the 40 Days of Peace campaign so they can serve as Peace Ambassadors at their project sites. The Retired & Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP), housed under the Louisville Metro Community Action Partnership (CAP), engages individuals 55 years or over in meaningful volunteer service such as Meals on Wheels delivery, mentors of youths in schools and supporters of disaster response teams. Volunteers from other organizations are also welcome to attend the training.

The MLK Day of Service and 40 Days of Peace is a national campaign to make the remembrance of Dr. King's birthday, "A Day On, Not A Day Off" and to pledge for 40 days to carry this model of service and good citizenship forward. The lead organizer is Service for Peace, with support from the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) and many local partners, like the RSVP.

For additional project details and volunteer opportunities, people can visit www.serviceforpeace.org/louisville or please contact the local Project Coordinator Peter Hayes at one of the phone numbers listed above.

In the words of Coretta Scott King, "Martin Luther King Jr. Day is not only for celebration and remembrance, education and tribute, but above all a day of service ... it is a day of volunteering to feed the hungry, rehabilitate housing, tutor those who can't read, mentor at-risk youngsters, console the broken-hearted and a thousand other projects for building the beloved community of his dream."

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