Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech – one of the greatest speeches in American history – on August 28th, 1963, calling for an end to racism. Dr. King’s legacy extends far beyond that speech. Throughout his time as a civil rights pioneer, both his words and actions reinforced the importance of joining together as a community to overcome injustice and create a fairer, kinder society for all. In that spirit, MLK Day has become a National Day of Service, and this special day for Philabundance is a day to carry on Dr. King’s life and work.
In these challenging times, as we continue to experience the impact of inflation and the lingering effects of the pandemic, the need to help our neighbors facing food insecurity is greater than ever. Philabundance has been stepping up to meet that challenge by bringing tens of thousands of pounds of healthy food to individuals and families, and we couldn’t complete our crucial work without the tremendous help of our dedicated volunteers. In 2022, our volunteers provided an astonishing 13,000 hours of service, saving Philabundance more than $300,000, essential funds to help us purchase and distribute food to our communities in need.
We were grateful to welcome volunteers on this Day of Service to help us beautify Philabundance spaces and the surrounding neighborhoods. During our special MLK Day events, participants heard from our staff about the issues of hunger and health, equity, and why their support is so essential to our mission.
At our brand new Roxborough site, volunteers assisted with cleaning up and painting our warehouse buildings. In addition, dozens of others helped us gather trash surrounding the two-block radius of our Philabundance Community Kitchen (PCK) in North Philadelphia.
We were proud to once again partner with Global Citizen to set up pop-up food distributions with some of our community partners. Philabundance staff visited Global Citizen’s signature site, Girard College, where our PCK representatives offered recipe and nutrition demonstrations, as well as job training resources and general Philabundance information.
Philabundance would like to thank everyone who helped us honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. this year to carry out his mission of community service. To learn how you can become involved with Philabundance, visit Philabundance.org.
