LOS ANGELES (CNS) – Martin Luther King Jr. Day will be marked Monday by service projects, events at the Queen Mary and Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and a Mass at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels
Efforts to fulfill the goal set by Congress in 1994 of making the holiday a “day on, not a day off,” the volunteer organization Big Sunday will conduct its 13th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day Clothing Drive & Community Breakfast from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Cienega Elementary School in the West Adams district with a focus on the wildfire victims.
More than 1,500 Big Sunday volunteers will assemble over 20,000 items of clothing into more than 2,025 cold-weather clothing kits, including footwear, according to organizers.
The organization will also collect prom dresses and tuxedos for underserved teens.
The event will include a special school beautification project, including painting new murals.
Everyone in attendance will be invited to participate in Big Sunday’s “Something in Common” photo project, where they are asked to meet someone new and find something they have in common, and then have their picture taken together.
“We thought long and hard about postponing the MLK event, but, based on the enormous amount of sign-ups, it seems very clear that people are anxious to be together in the name of community, kindness, compassion, helping, unity and love,” David Levinson, Big Sunday’s founder and executive director, said in a statement.
“Monday is also Inauguration Day, and whether one is delighted or devastated by the new administration, we are happy to provide an opportunity for folks to get together to celebrate our differences while finding common ground. We like to think that this is what Dr. King worked so hard for.”
Service opportunities for the 16th annual MLK Day of Service organized by the leadership program Leadership Long Beach include a beach cleanup at Junipero Beach and letter writing to support older adults.
Volunteers can register as leadershiplb.org/mlk/.
The MLK Volunteer Festival at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum conducted by the nonprofit volunteer action center L.A. Works will focus on opportunities for participants to support recovery efforts from the wildfires and help impacted families and individuals, honoring King’s legacy by coming together to serve and uplift the community in times of need.
No tickets remain for the ticketed event.
King spoke at the Coliseum in 1964.
The fourth annual Unity Walk in celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day is set in Santa Clarita at 8 a.m. at Central Park with the theme, “Mission Possible: Protecting Freedom, Justice and Democracy in the Spirit of Nonviolence 365.”
The walk will be preceded by a program led by Mayor Bill Miranda that will include speakers, musical performances and poetry readings.
Attendees are asked to bring donations in the form of non-perishable items and toiletries for the SCV Food Pantry, Family Promise and Bridge to Home.
City Manager Ken Striplin called the walk “a time for the community to come together, reflect on Dr. King’s contributions and take part in a collective effort to embrace the values he championed.”
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Westside Coalition’s 40th annual Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration will have the theme, “Celebrating Women of the Civil Rights Movement.”
The keynote speaker will be Sonya Young Aadam, CEO of the California Black Women’s Health Project, which bills itself as the “only statewide, nonprofit organization that is solely committed to improving the health of California’s 1.2 million Black women and girls through advocacy, education, outreach and policy.”
The celebration will begin at 11 a.m. at John Adams Middle School’s Performing Arts Center in Santa Monica. A Community Involvement Fair will immediately follow the program in the adjacent Performance Studio.
Cerritos’ Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day Ceremony at 10 a.m. at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts’ Sierra Room will include comments by Cerritos City Council members and a musical performance.
Attendees are asked to bring a canned good to donate to a local food pantry to the 10 a.m. ceremony.
The Queen Mary will commemorate Martin Luther King Jr. Day from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. with a lecture series, a screening of King’s “I Have a Dream” speech and arts and crafts activities. Admission is $10.
The keynote address of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center’s 23rd annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day Celebration will be delivered by Dr. Kelvin A. Baggett, who will discuss hope, connection and kindness — values that align with King’s vision of equitable health care access for all, according to Cedars- Sinai.
Baggett is senior managing director in transformation and growth at Patient Square Capital, a Palo Alto-based private equity firm. Baggett chairs the EMPIRIC (Excellence in Medicine, Patient Impact Research, Innovation and Care) Institute. The institute, formed in July, focuses on researching, measuring and enhancing patient impact within current and prospective Patient Square portfolio companies.
The celebration of King’s legacy of justice, equality and service will be from 11:45 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the medical center’s Harvey Morse Auditorium and streamed at us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_jTy3cfCKSVOYr6EUJmf3vA#/registration.
The celebration will also include a musical performance by Nayanna Holley, a member of “The Voice’s” house band.
A Mass commemorating King’s call for service will be celebrated by Archbishop José H. Gomez at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels at 3 p.m. It will be streamed at www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4aaBJIGtIU
“Although not a Catholic himself, we recognize his efforts to advance human rights and civil rights as certainly being in keeping with the Gospel of Jesus Christ and completely aligned with the themes of Catholic Social Teaching: the life and dignity of all people, especially in solidarity with the downtrodden, regardless of skin color and other differences,” according to a statement from the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.
The Kingdom Day Parade, which is traditionally on the holiday, was scheduled for Saturday, then postponed until Feb. 17 because of the wildfires. The California African American Museum in Exposition Park also postponed its King Day festivities.
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