The 2020 edition of the King holiday fell on a pivotal point in our city’s history. This year will bring an election, the census, the 100th anniversary of the 19th amendment, and more events that will require us, as a community and as a nation, to unite. For us, while incredibly important, that means more than volunteering and serving others. Knowing we’ve got some of the country’s top civic engagement and social justice organizations right here in our backyard, we partnered with The King Center, The National Center for Civil and Human Rights and Morehouse College to deliver over 2 weeks of events and programming.

For the King holiday, Atlanta, once again, rose to the occasion and set the standard for how to commemorate the life and legacy of Dr. King. There have been opportunities to learn, to listen, to serve, to engage, to disrupt and to do. Below are some highlights from the MLK Sunday Supper and our annual day of service. To the changemakers, the corporate community, our partners and everyone who participated in an MLK Day event or program - THANK YOU!

MLK SUNDAY SUPPER

Photos by Steve Swieter Photography

For the 6th year in a row, Hands On Atlanta kicked-off the MLK Day of Service with our annual MLK Sunday Supper. What’s become one of our favorite annual events, this year’s conversation centered around THE defining social justice issue of 2020: women’s rights. With the upcoming election and census, we know 2020 will be a pivotal year for everyone, but it will be specifically pivotal for women. There isn’t an issue…from affordable housing to income inequality, that doesn’t’ dis-proportionally affect women in our community.

The evening’s conversations were sparked by vignettes from Andrea Young, Executive Director of ACLU of Georgia, Cheryl Preheim, evening anchor at 11Alive, and Kwame Johnson, President and CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Metro Atlanta. The evening’s program was designed in partnership with Civic Dinners, and facilitated by women leaders from across Atlanta.

Highlights of the evening included two incredibly moving performance from the Atlanta Music Project and a motivational challenge for change by Jill Savitt, the CEO of the National Center for Civil and Human Rights!

Day of Service

On the coldest day of the year, tens of thousands of ATLiens turned out for city wide volunteer projects, church services, the King Center’s annual march, and other MLK Day related events and programs. We tallied over 3,000 changemakers, serving almost 10,000 hours at 20 projects hosted by our corporate, nonprofit and school partners across metro Atlanta. Here’s a snap shot of the day:

• 400 volunteers turned up at Truly Living Well to assist with winterization for the fruit trees, composting, cleaning a pond and re-mulching pathways. Volunteers spread 800 pounds of mulch, built 5 cold frame/mini greenhouses, installed a new garden bed and more!

• Our friends at Livable Buckhead hosted about 75 volunteers from Accenture and ADP at Loridians Park, where volunteers helped create a new nature trail and a community education space.

• In partnership with Trees Atlanta, 300 volunteers planted 200 trees and 5,000 daffodil bulbs at Brook Run Park! Special guests included Dunwoody Mayor Lynn Deutsch, volunteers from project sponsors Coca-Cola, Newell Brands, and The Home Depot, plus the Atlanta-Dunwoody chapter of Jack and Jill of America, Inc.

• ATLiens strolling down the Beltline stopped at our “pop up” project and helped build 200 STEM kits for students in our partner Atlanta Public Schools.

• Volunteers stayed warm by working hard, beautifying 5 partner schools from Atlanta, Dekalb and Fulton County School systems. Projects covered a wide range of needs and included painting, landscaping, bench and picnic table builds, outdoor classrooms, garden beds and more!

• More than 200 volunteers stopped into City Hall for the City of Atlanta Day of Service making hats and scarves, no sew blankets and more for City of Atlanta Warming Centers (temporary homeless shelters open during frigid temperatures) and several partner nonprofits.

What’s next

Our official King Holiday festivities began back on January 13 and will conclude on Jan. 31. On Thursday, Jan. 23 from 5:30pm-7:30pm catch Stacey Abrams at the Morehouse College Annual MLK Lecture Series and on Friday, Jan. 31 from 8:30am - 10:00am, grab your seat for an uplifting and engaging talk from Dr. Vicki Crawford at Creative Mornings. Dr. Crawford, the director of the Martin Luther King Jr. Collection at Morehouse College and general editor of the Morehouse College King Collection Series on Civil and Human Rights.

As Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “The time is always right, to do what is right.” We’ve got you covered to do what is right, all year round:

• Find volunteer opportunities to fit your schedule and the issues you can about most!

• Explore one of our digital volunteering partners and help someone in real-time.

• Host or attend a Civic Dinner.

THANK YOU SPONSORS!

Please join us and toss a high five to the companies paving the way for a more equitable and civically engaged Atlanta! The support from these leaders made the MLK Sunday Supper and Day of Service possible.