Whittier Street Health Center, a community health center with a mission to serve as a center of excellence that provides high quality and accessible health care and social services that achieve health equity, social justice, and the economic well-being of a diverse patient population, recently honored civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King during a “Celebrating a Life of Service” event.

Held on January 12^th in the Community Education Room at the Center’s 1290 Tremont Street, Roxbury address, the well-received event paid tribute to the life and achievements of Dr. King by providing winter coats, hats, scarves, gloves, and prepared food bags to all adult and children patients attending.

“What a delight to see so many of our patients come out to commemorate the life and legacy of Dr. King,” said Frederica M. Williams, president and CEO of Whittier Street Health Center. “We felt it only appropriate to honor this great humanitarian with an event that nourishes both the body and soul.”

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 – is 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.”

About Whittier Street Health Center

Whittier Street Health Center is an independently licensed community health care center with a mission of providing high quality, reliable and accessible primary healthcare for diverse populations while promoting wellness and eliminating health and social disparities. A champion of equitable access to high quality, patient-focused care, social justice and economic equity, Whittier Street Health Center is accredited by The Joint Commission (TJC), certified by the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) as a Patient-Centered Medical Home, and recognized by the NCQA for its Behavioral Health Integration. Through its locations in Roxbury and North Dorchester, and its Mobile Health Van program, Whittier Street Health Center serves more than 30,000 patients and 20,000 community outreach visits annually; its ethnically and racially diverse patient base is primarily made up of individuals from Roxbury, Dorchester, Jamaica Plain, the South End and greater Boston. Approximately 36% of Whittier’s patients are uninsured. Whittier Street Health Center provides a comprehensive array of 40 healthcare programs and services designed to meet the primary health care, behavioral health, and social needs of the community. For more information, please visit www.wshc.org as well as Facebook (www.facebook.com/WhittierStreetHealthCenter), Twitter (@Whittier_Boston), or LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/whittier-street-health-center), or call 617-989-3221.