MLK Day of Service fills more than week

A A

Listen and learn about Kings legacy

If youre less into volunteering and more into listening and learning, theres still lots you can do in honor of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

The fourth annual Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Community Breakfast comes to Clark College, beginning at 9 a.m. Jan. 20 at Gaiser Hall. The subject is violence and the keynote speaker is Dr. Alisha Moreland-Capuia, a doctor and psychiatrist who is an expert in addiction medicine and healing trauma. Tickets start at $30.

Washington State University Vancouvers Jan. 20 Day of Service event features interactive morning workshops and a lunchtime talk on Women and Poverty: Dispelling the Myths and Breaking the Cycle by associate professor of English Desiree Hellegers. She is the author of a book about homeless women in Seattle. RSVP to Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service.

The Bahais of Vancouver will host Beyond the Dream, a showing of videos of Kings lesser-known speeches. That takes place at 6:30 p.m. on Jan. 20 at 4016 East 13th Street. Refreshments will be served after the program. Its free.

Clark College hosts Lee Mun Wah, a Chinese American educator and filmmaker, speaking on diversity issues at 11:30 a.m. on Jan. 22 at the Gaiser Student Center. There will be a 1 p.m. student dialog with Wah, and at 5:30 p.m. a showing of Lee Mun Wahs film If These Halls Could Talk, an unflinching look at racism on college campuses, followed by a discussion with the filmmaker. Gaiser Student Center, with light refreshments served.

Next weekend, you may notice big groups of your neighbors roaming the landscape, performing good deeds. You wouldn't want to miss that fun, would you?

What started out as the Martin Luther King Day of Service has evolved, here in Clark County, into an extra-long weekend of opportunities to pitch in and make your world a better place. Clark County, the city of Vancouver, Clark College and Washington State University Vancouver have teamed up to coordinate many activities, from planting trees and painting walls to yanking weeds and building trails..

It's all in honor of slain civil rights leader Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who was born on Jan. 15, 1929. His birthday became a federal holiday in 1983. It took another decade for a federal law to create the King Day of Service, which is always the third Monday in January. This year, it's Jan. 20. "Make it a day on, not a day off," is the slogan.

Read more:
MLK Day of Service fills more than week