Mayor Slay Calls For Day Of Service On Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

 St. Louis – Mayor Slay today issued a call to all St. Louisans to donate their time, energy, and talents on the annual national Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service. This year’s MLK  Day of Service falls on January 18, 2010.

“This is a chance for residents to join together in the spirit of Dr. King’s work to help shape and transform our City through service,” Mayor Slay said. “Many of us will have Monday, January 18th off work – but instead of considering it a ‘day off,’ I challenge you to think of it as a ‘day on,’ by joining one of the many service projects occurring in the St. Louis area.”

Mayor Slay will demonstrate his commitment to making St. Louis a City of Service by participating in the Branch Street Clean-Up in North St. Louis. Branch Street serves as the boundary between the Old North St. Louis and Hyde Park neighborhoods and is an important connection to the Riverfront Trail. Branch Street also provides access to the Mary Meachum Freedom Crossing, the first nationally recognized Underground Railroad site in Missouri. Cleanup on Branch Street will begin on the 18th around 9am.

Residents can help clean up Branch Street or participate in one of the many other service projects by visiting www.stl.unitedway.org/mlkday or contacting United Way at 314-539-4298.  

The Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service is led by the Corporation for National and Community Service. The effort to make the King Holiday a “day on, not a day off,” focuses on engaging Americans in service to honor Dr. King’s legacy. More than 1.5 million volunteers served in 13,000 projects last year that took place in all 50 states, including the District of Columbia, Guam, and Puerto Rico.

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Founded in New York City on September 10, 2009, Cities of Service is a bipartisan coalition of mayors who have answered the historic Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act’s call to action. Cities – often at the front lines of our nation’s most pressing challenges – are perfectly positioned to work together to engage millions more volunteers in service and develop strategies to increase the amount and impact of local service efforts. Coalition members, by signing a Declaration of Service, will work together to lead a multi-year effort to expand community service and volunteerism in cities across the country.