This coming Monday, January 17th, is the 25th anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day — a national day of service in the United States. Where will you volunteer your energy and time?

People across the country are kicking off the new year by creating, joining, or reporting on MLK Day service projects in their communities:

• Learn more and find opportunities to serve for MLK Day on Idealist, HandsOn, and MLKDay.gov.
• Already planning a project? Be sure to register it so that people in your community will find out how to support it!
• Join others in a celebration called America’s Sunday Supper broadcast live online the night before MLK Day, bringing together thought leaders of public service.

Every year I try take part in a service project. This Monday, my family is going to carry out our second annual DIY project inspired last year by the tragic earthquake in Haiti.

First, we’ll update our own disaster supplies kit, and then we’ll share information with our neighbors about how they can prepare for disaster too.  We’ll pass along American Red Cross booklets that help Oregonians prepare for natural disasters possible here (like earthquakes) and Emergency Contact Cards (PDF) to carry in our wallets, just in case.

Via email to family and the local network of parents we’re connected to, and through blog posts like this one, our MLK Day service project can reach an even wider community.

You can learn more about disaster preparedness at www.redcross.org and at www.cruzrojaamericana.org. Here are some documents you can use at home and share in your community:

• Be Red Cross Ready: Get a Kit. Make a Plan. Be Informed. (PDF)
• Prepare your workplace and staff.
• Prepare your school and students.
• Find checklists for disasters that may occur in your region and other American Red Cross resources in a variety of languages.

Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day! How are you making Monday a day on, not a day off?