Submitted by Serve Washington.
PIERCE COUNTY – Groups of AmeriCorps members will be leading And participating in Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service projects and events round Pierce County Jan. 20.
Their service projects will be part of thousands occurring across the country simultaneously to honor the late civil rights leader.
Observed each year on the third Monday in January, Martin Luther King, Jr., Day is the only federal holiday designated as a National Day of Service to encourage all Americans to volunteer to honor the life and legacy of Dr. King and improve their communities. AmeriCorps has been charged with leading this effort for more than a quarter century. While much work remains to fulfill Dr. King’s dream of creating the Beloved Community, AmeriCorps remains committed to showing that joining together in service can unify Americans of different backgrounds and experiences to transform unjust systems through a fierce urgency of now.
Information about the projects:
- Washington Service Corps AmeriCorps members are teaming up with the Pierce Conservation district on three service project that will be taking place simultaneously at three parks:
- Bradley Lake Park in Puyallup
- Waughop Lake at Fort Steilacoom Park in Lakewood
- Nelson Nature Park in Edgewood.
Volunteers will be removing invasive species of plants such as reed canary grass, Himalayan blackberry and English Ivy. They’ll also be caring planting new native plants and some maintenance work of existing native plants from previous community service project plantings.
These service projects will be taking place from 9 a.m. to noon. Volunteers should wear closed-toed shoes and long-sleeved shirts. Project organizers say the plantings will happen rain or shine so it’s recommended volunteers are prepared with rain gear and warm layers. Everyone is welcome. Youth under 14 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian.
How to sign up: Volunteers should sign up at on the Pierce Conservation District website in advance: https://piercecd.org/Calendar.aspx?EID=2476
Questions should be directed to Bryan Mohlman, BryanM@piercecd.org.
• AmeriCorps members serving with The Imagine Justice Project’s Tacoma Boat Builders will be supporting the City of Tacoma’s resource fair and volunteer recognition ceremony at the Greater Tacoma Convention Center, GTCC. The resource fair starts at 11 a.m. Jan. 20 and the volunteer recognition ceremony starts at 1 p.m. Read the GCCC press release. For more information, contact Connie Benedict, connie@imaginejusticeproject.org.
Find a service project in your area: Serve Washington has a “Get Connected” volunteer opportunities site that lets you search for volunteer opportunities in your community. You can filter results by location, focus area, ability and more.
National Resources
Websites like Idealist, Just Serve and Volunteer Match let you search for local projects by zip code. AmeriCorps and Points of Light have lists of projects that can be done in any community by yourself, or in a group.
Share your volunteer experience:
Serve Washington invites you to share your MLK Day volunteer experience to inspire others to serve! We’ll be sharing as many photos, stories and videos to our Facebook and Instagram pages in the days immediately following MLK Day. Don’t forget to tag us! You can also upload your volunteer story using our volunteer story collection tool.
About Serve Washington: Serve Washington is the state commission on national and community service and is a division of the Washington State Office of Financial Management.
Serve Washington advances national service, volunteerism, and civic engagement to improve lives; expands opportunity to meet the local critical needs of residents of Washington and strengthens community capacity while creating healthy and resilient communities. We promote and grow volunteer efforts in the state of Washington. These include AmeriCorps, Washington Climate Corps Network and Community Emergency Response Team, CERT programs. For more information, visit servewashigton.wa.gov.
About AmeriCorps: AmeriCorps, the federal agency for national service and volunteerism, provides opportunities for Americans to serve their country domestically, address the nation’s most pressing challenges, improve lives and communities, and strengthen civic engagement. Each year, the agency places more than 200,000 AmeriCorps members and AmeriCorps Seniors volunteers in intensive service roles; and empowers millions more to serve as long-term, short-term, or one-time volunteers. Learn more at AmeriCorps.gov.
For more information about MLK Day, visit the AmeriCorps’ MLK Day of Service website.
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