H OnOring D r . M ArTin L uTHer K ing , J r .
United
continued from page 4
floating holiday to take later in the year. So if you run a cor-
poration, a nonprofit or a business, you can do likewise and
become a partner in that effort.
In 2011 more than 2,000 volunteers contributed 8,000
hours of work, worth about $166,800.
Ala Salem was one of those folks, working with a team to
spruce up Mt. Pleasant Elementary School in Oregon City.
“It was a lot
of fun,” he
said.
“We
raked leaves,
cleared
up
play
areas
and painted
an outdoor
area. Some students from Lewis and Clark came along and
they were able to create a mural for the kids. Hopefully
we’ll be able to repeat that process this year.”
Salem says volunteering just feels good. “It doesn’t have
to be all day; it just takes a couple of hours to make a dif-
ference,” he says. “You meet new people, get to know more
about what’s going on in your community, and you can
offer something back.”
Anna Mortsfield, who works at Wells Fargo Bank, has
United Way offers
more than 50 ways to
help others
Joining up with the fantastic volunteering nonprofit
HandsOn Portland the nonprofit has created opportunities
across the Portland- metro region in Clark, Clackamas,
Multnomah and Washington counties.
Find the project you want to work on and sign up online
at the United Way website. Or call Andy Nelson at
HandsOn Portland: 503.200.3374
A bonus: if you bring a team of four people or more, you
can enter a drawing for a Kindle Fire.
Dr. King clearly told us how much community service
matters when he said, “Life’s most persistent and urgent
question is, ‘What are you doing for others?”
And during his life, he practiced what he preached, work-
ing tirelessly for the benefit of others, as well as to advance
the civil rights movement.
United Way is practicing what it preaches too, by asking
its employees to volunteer on Jan. 16, and giving them a
There is no better way to honor
the slain civil rights leader than
to make his holiday ‘A Day on
Not a Day Off’
plenty of volunteer experience. She volunteers for SOLV,
for the KGW Toy drive, Feed the Children and others
throughout the year. But this will be her first year volun-
teering with the weekend of service.
“I just love it,” she says. “I’m excited. It’s wonderful to
have the Martin Luther King weekend of service become a
new tradition. It’s nice to have a big event that brings so
many people out to volunteer. It’s a very important holi-
day.”
Andy Nelson at HandsOn Portland: 503-200-3374
January 11, 2012 The Portland and Seattle Skanner Martin Luther King Edition Page 5