Dr. Martin Luther King Jr was born on January the 15th, 1929. in celebration of his life of dedicated service, on his birthday each year, thousands, possibly millions, volunteer in their community. This year Dr. King’s (day of service) will take place on January 20th, 2020.
On this day, various projects i.e. school gardens, community clean-ups, etc will be hosted by community leaders to enable local residents to join in and lend a hand in the improvement of their community. At the end of the day, the volunteers, will experience from their full day of volunteering, how a small group of individuals can make a difference in a community when they work together.
The feeling of accomplishment at the end of the day, plants the seed in many to volunteer again the following year and years to come. Which illustrates one of the reasons Dr. MLK Day continues to grow in the United States.
Years ago, we hosted a MLK Day volunteer day at Castlemont High School in East Oakland. I had taught at Castlemont High School several years prior, when the school garden was a vibrant part of the school, spearheaded by a science teacher. I shared this story with the schools Principal and gained his support to attempt to revitalize the school garden through a MLK Day volunteer day effort.
The event was a success. We recruited a great group of individuals willing to work for the entire day. We converted this abandoned plot of dirt and weeds into a weed free, garden, full of freshly planted seeds.
The picture with this update is from that day at Castlemont.
I returned to the school about a month later and realized much of the work we achieved that day was for naught. Most of the weeds had returned. The seeds we planted didn’t grow, etc.
From the above experience, I thought, if we could recruit volunteers once a month with students from the school to maintain it, we could make the garden and integral part of the school.
This is how 1st Saturdays and later 1stSaturdays.com was born. A site dedicated to a monthly volunteer day at schools – the first Saturday of every month.
In the book, “Familyhood”, written by yours truly, I define schools as the nucleus of a communities development. Familyhood is an inter-generational governance model that is driven by two motto’s. 1) Every school shall have a functioning Student Government Association, Parent Teacher Association and Alumni Association. The collaboration of these three main school organizations in collaboration are the schools “Familyhood”. 2) Every school shall have a garden, a farmers market and a grocery store.
1stSaturday’s primary focus is to bring together, once a month, the schools Familyhood (Student Government Association, Parent Teacher Association and Alumni Association). If the school does not have these organizations, then the primary focus shifts to starting one (them).
Moving forward, mark you calendar to join us in celebrating Dr Martin Luther King’s January 20th “day on” day of service and follow up these projects by starting 1st Saturdays at your schools.
We kick off our school year with Dr. MLK Day Jan 20th, followed by 1st Saturdays – February 1st, March 7th, April 4th, May 2nd, June 5th, etc.
A global network of schools building self- sufficient communities from the people up!
Download and read the pamphlet FREE: Familyhood
Hotep!
David Roach
