Martin Luther King Jr. Day Offers A Chance to Give Back

At the start of 2010, I wrote “volunteer!” on the list of things I’d like to accomplish. At the start of 2011, I clarified my resolution to read: Make a plan for volunteering. Follow that plan.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day offered the perfect opportunity to get started.

Branding Martin Luther King Jr. Day as “a day on, not a day off” is part of a national push to encourage Americans to help one another. I heard about the effort from

It had been awhile since I volunteered regularly. I was a member of two service organizations when I attended Truman State University in Kirksville. With those groups, I wove volunteer work into my always-changing weekly schedule.

Back then, I was free from much responsibility and volunteering was easy. My friends and I cleaned up trash along the roadsides; we collected canned goods; we cleaned the local women’s shelter. Volunteering helped me learn more about the community in which I lived for four years.  I began to care about the decisions that local leaders made.  I was more than just a “temporary” resident -- I made Kirksville my home.

Flash forward to life now. I’m married. I have a hectic, but rewarding, full-time job. I belong to a book club and like to scrapbook and cook. I recently started taking yoga classes. In short, my life feels pretty full.

I’ve often kicked myself for not making time to give back to my community –for not making it a bigger priority. But the last thing I wanted to do was make a commitment and not be able to keep it.

So, when I heard about the Community Council’s MLK Senior Connections Day I thought it would be a nice chance to try volunteering again.

MLK Senior Connections Day is a program that pairs volunteers with seniors in the community. Those volunteers spend about an hour with a person who perhaps doesn’t get many visitors. It is a rewarding experience for both the senior and the volunteer.  This year about 15 volunteers signed up.

I had the opportunity to visit with a woman at Charlevoix Health Center in St. Charles. Jennifer Hammond is the activities director at Charlevoix and she brings energy and a big smile to the job. As she led me through the facility, she stopped to chat with different residents who were in their rooms or out in the hallway.

Hammond told me she enjoys putting together activities for the residents and has the help of staff members. Still, more help is always appreciated. In the Charlevoix newsletter, the No. 1 need on the activity “wish list” is for volunteers.

Volunteers are needed to do everything from help decorate for a party, to visiting one-on-one with residents.

This morning, I sat down and talked with a resident named Doris who hadn’t been at the facility very long. She said her husband and children are able to visit her, but not as often as she’d like.  

After Doris and I talked, I thought about my own grandparents who live far away. Both my grandmother in Florida and my grandfather in Iowa have relatives who stop by to visit and talk to them on the phone often. But I hope that there are people in their communities, church members, friends, and volunteers, who can spend time with them. 

I know that if I make the effort to volunteer in St. Charles, I'll get to know this community even better. Perhaps it’s a matter of planning lots of one-time volunteer opportunities with different groups until I find the right niche; or maybe joining a service organization would help. I do know I want to make volunteering a part of my life again. 

Participating in the MLK 25 Challenge will help. This is an initiative that encourages people to commit to doing 25 actions in 2011 to make a difference for others. The website details 100 suggestions to get you started.

If I do at least two volunteer activities each month (plus one extra), I know can meet that challenge.

I’d better get planning!