MLK Week of Service begins today

Over the holiday season, did you urge yourself to volunteer more? Was it one of your New Years resolutions to get involved in your community?

Hands On Charlotte’s MLK Week of Service is an opportunity for you to jumpstart your community service in the New Year. Over the next week, Hands On Charlotte will sponsor some 50 projects across the city – all part of an effort to honor the life and ideas of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

We hope you’ll join us during the MLK Week of Service. Here are a few projects you could help us out with this weekend:

• Saturday – McGill Rose Garden: Come spruce up the grounds at McGill Rose Garden, located just outside Uptown.
• Saturday – Habitat ReStore: Help Habitat for Humanity sort through donated materials and recycle what they can’t use.
• Sunday – Actor’s Theatre of Charlotte: Join Hands On Charlotte for a MLK Community Cinema event at Actor’s Theatre of Charlotte. Admission is free.

Click here to view our other projects.

We urge you to join us during our MLK Week of Service. Dr. King called people of all walks of life to participate in bettering their communities. The MLK Week of Service is an opportunity for you and your family to start serving your community in 2011.

UPDATE: MLK Service Forum moved to January 22

In a ripple effect of the snow storm, we have moved the MLK Service Forum to January 22. The event will start at 10 a.m. and last until 1 p.m. Here is a breakdown of how you can get involved:

• Donation drop off: Folks don’t even have to get out of their cars! From 10 a.m. until 1 p.m., Hands On Charlotte will be accepting donations in the loop around Grady Cole Center. Requested items include: clothing for all ages; hygiene items for all ages; school supplies; office supplies; packaged snack items for school-aged children; first-aid supplies; board games; cleaning supplies; electronic items (including computers, monitors, speakers, microphones and other education-related electronics.) Click here to learn more.
  
  
• Volunteer recruitment fair: From 10 a.m. until 1 p.m., Hands On Charlotte will bring together more than 20 nonprofit organizations from around the city to recruit and train volunteers for various projects. Volunteer training sessions start at 10 a.m. and 12 p.m. For a listing of all agencies involved in the event, please visit our website.
  
  
• Free health screenings and children’s volunteer activities: Carolinas HealthCare will be providing free health screenings between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m., and during that time, Hands On Charlotte will be providing supervised children’s activities aimed at teaching kids about community service.
  

Continue following this blog and our Twitter feed (@HandsOnCLT) for updates.

How many people can you organize in one week?

In lieu of the traditional Friday Roundup, we’re asking for your social networking help. Hands On Charlotte needs you to help publicize our upcoming MLK Service Forum. So here's the question: How many people can you organize in one week? You can ReTweet us. You can link to our blog. You can tell your friends to “Like” our FanPage on Facebook on Facebook.

If our MLK Service Forum is going to be a success, it will be because of a grassroots effort. That means we need you to mobilize your inner circle! There are a few ways to participate in the MLK Service Forum on January 17 at the Grady Cole Center:

• Donation drop off: Folks don’t even have to get out of their cars! From 8 a.m. until 10 a.m., Hands On Charlotte will be accepting donations in the loop around Grady Cole Center. Requested items include: clothing for all ages; hygiene items for all ages; school supplies; office supplies; packaged snack items for school-aged children; first-aid supplies; board games; cleaning supplies; electronic items (including computers, monitors, speakers, microphones and other education-related electronics.) Click here to learn more.
  
  
• Volunteer recruitment fair: From 10 a.m. until 1 p.m., Hands On Charlotte will bring together more than 20 nonprofit organizations from around the city to recruit and train volunteers for various projects. Volunteer training sessions start at 10 a.m. and 12 p.m. For a listing of all agencies involved in the event, please visit our website.
  
  
• Free health screenings and children’s volunteer activities: Carolinas HealthCare will be providing free health screenings between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m., and during that time, Hands On Charlotte will be providing supervised children’s activities aimed at teaching kids about community service.

Remember, there is no cost to attend the MLK Service Forum. Call 704.333.7471 or visit www.handsoncharlotte.org for more information. Keep following this blog, our Twitter feed and our Facebook FanPage for more information.

Hands On Charlotte is adding a new element to our MLK Week of Service – a Community Cinema.

We all know the power of films. Films have the ability to call up emotions in one’s self that we did not even know we had (which is my excuse for crying during ‘Titanic’). Films allow us to see how we are related to other people and ideas.

At our Community Cinema event, a group of individuals from the community will join together to watch one of three films. After each screening, we will hold a brief discussion on how the films relate to our lives and the broader Charlotte community.

Join us Sunday, January 16 at Actor’s Theatre of Charlotte for a double screening from 6 p.m. until 9 p.m. We’ll start with A Village Called Versailles and end with Deep Down.

Click here to sign up.


Bryan Schauerte

MLK Week of Service starts January 14

We know it can be tough to get jazzed about volunteering immediately after the holidays. There are bills to pay. Cold weather to deal with. And I’m certain that some people out there have a cold or the flu (if anyone wants to start a support group, let me know).

Well, here comes a spark to ignite your community-service spirit in 2011. From January 14 until January 21, Hands On Charlotte will present its MLK Week of Service.

During the MLK Week of Service, we will offer more than 60 projects at nonprofit organizations around the city. Visit the website to learn about all the projects.

Our MLK Week of Service is our beginning to 2011, our 20th-anniversary year. We need your help to make 2011 our best year yet, and that effort starts with our MLK Week of Service.