Former president and famed Union general Ulysses S. Grant once said, “Labor disgraces no man.” Perhaps this saying is no more correct than when it is used to refer to work done this coming Monday.
In conjunction with the federal Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, the 2010 MLK Day of Service is expected to inspire Americans across the country to participate in more than 10,000 volunteer projects, including the Gilleland Creek Stewardship event in Pflugerville.
When people work, it often means they are in need or want of money. When people volunteer, it usually means they care enough about others to give the one thing that is fleeting to each of us: time.
When we recently compiled letters to Santa from local children, some stood out for their humor (“Thank you Santa for being awesome!”) and some (including that one) stood out for their kindness. Some gave thanks and some asked for nothing at all.
The parents of those kids deserve a standing ovation for the values they’ve managed to instill in them. More often than in the past, it seems, tales of failed parenting and poor values seem to litter the American countryside.
And it is these very values that are often the driving forces for volunteerism. If you care only for yourself, how likely are you to give physical effort and time to projects such as delivering meals, planting trees or home construction?
Encouraging yet somewhat puzzling to me – in light of how it seems people are becoming more and more self-centered – the King Day of Service has seen participation grow each year since 1994, when Congress passed legislation encouraging Americans to observe MLK Day as a day of community service.
Last  year, participation fueled more than 13,000 volunteer projects – more than double the previous year’s 5,000 projects. More than 65,000 people volunteered in 900 projects in the Philadelphia area and 32,500, including President Barack Obama, served in the Washington D.C area. Work included tree-planting, school renovations, creek restoration and home construction.
“As we honor [Martin Luther King Jr.’s] legacy, it’s not a day just to pause and reflect – it’s a day to act,” President Obama was quoted as saying on MLKDay.gov. “And I ask the American people to turn today’s efforts into an ongoing commitment to enriching the lives of others in their communities, their cities and their country.”
We at the Pflag encourage all to give the precious gift of time at Gilleland Creek Monday, where volunteers will be pulling weeds, planting native seedlings and cleaning up trash from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
This year, there is even an added incentive to take part. The creek stewardship event is registered with Disney and the HandsOn Network project “Give a Day – Get a Disney Day.” Volunteers signing up to work the event through the Disney Web site (disneyparks.com) receive a free ticket to a Disney park.
To be eligible for the freebies, you must be at least 18 years old. You can include up to eight more family members, but children who volunteer must be at least 6 years old.
Eligible theme parks include those at Disneyland in California and at Walt Disney World in Florida.
RSVP for that event by sending an e-mail to Aprilr@cityofpflugerville.com . For more information, call 990-6328.