A Day of Service
Today marks the 25th anniversary of the Martin Luther King Day holiday. This day was originally created to be a 'Day On' as opposed to a 'Day Off'. To recognize Dr. King's legacy of service, Americans are called to volunteer on this day to work together in an effort to find solutions to some of our country's greatest challenges.
For years, our church has participated in this day by hosting the children of CAMP, an after school program that we founded in our neighboring city of Paterson. The children of CAMP come to church for stories, arts and crafts, entertainers and lunch. The children and families of our church volunteer both to help the day run smoothly and to meet new friends. This was the first year that we brought the girls but it will not be our last. For Caroline who routinely complains that our house is the smallest in Ridgewood, I relish opportunities to introduce her to children who lead dramatically different lives than we do.
Hopefully, the lessons of this day will last throughout the year inspiring us to do more volunteer work as a family. Maybe then, Caroline will realize that living in the smallest house in Ridgewood is pretty nice place to be.
posted by Stacey @ 1:25 PM
1 Comments
1 Comments:
I did my "day on" part by attending the Ridgewood/Glen Rock MLK celebration, which is hosted at the Methodist Church up the road from yours. I serve as a volunteer on the planning committee, and confess that, while I've grown fond of the other members and am proud of the work we do, I often find the process of putting this event together to be very trying. And have been known to complain about the long hours and chronic indecision. But this afternoon, as New Jersey Public Defender Yvonne Segars address our theme of working toward the common good, I realized how lucky I am to be included in this circle of people. People who are conscious and committed. To doing more, being better, and helping others. Your girls will thank you later for what you are exposing them to now, Stacey. I only wish I'd had the opportunity to do the same for my son when he was their age. Next year I'm going to ask him to go with me.
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