In honor of civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. Whittier Street Health Center will host a “Celebrating a Life of Service” event on Thursday, January 12, from noon to 2 p.m. in our Community Education Room at 1290 Tremont Street, Roxbury.

Please join us in paying tribute to the life and legacy of Dr. King, whose influence on racial equality is remembered and celebrated on Martin Luther King Day – the only federal holiday marked as a national day of service in the United States with the stated goal of encouraging all to volunteer and do their part to improve the communities in which we live.

To commemorate the life and achievements of Dr. King, Whittier will provide winter coats, hats, scarves, gloves (adult and child sizes available), and prepared food bags to all our patients who register for the January 12^th event.

Dr. King, whose most famous address was his 1963 “I Have a Dream” speech, was an advocate of non-violent protest and in 1964, the youngest person to ever receive the Nobel Peace Prize. Following his assassination in 1968, a movement for his birthday to become a federal holiday was started. It would be another 18 years before Martin Luther King Day was observed in most states. Since 2000 MLK Day has been respected as a federal holiday by all states every year on the third Monday of January.

As Dr. King himself said, “”Everybody can be great, because anybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.”

To register for our January 12^th event, please call 617-989-3112 or 617-989-3179.