For the sixth straight year, volunteers in Flossmoor and Homewood will team up on the MLK Day of Service to make life better for their less fortunate neighbors. Find out how you can help through a number of local service projects.
For the sixth straight year, volunteers in Flossmoor and Homewood will team up on the MLK Day of Service to make life better for their less fortunate neighbors.
Monday’s MLK Day will feature 20 volunteer projects. Most are designed to help the needy throughout the south suburban area. Others focus on collecting books, crayons or LEGOS as part of national projects. Other volunteers will be helping save threatened habitat in Cook County forest preserves.
The local observance of the MLK Day of Service was started as a community project by the Village of Flossmoor. Since its modest beginning in 2015, the project has become a major annual event in the H-F area. Last year, about 700 persons took part in the Day of Service and even more are expected to participate this year.
Flossmoor is still the primary sponsor of the Day of Service in our community.
Here is a list of activities taking place on Jan. 20 at various sites around the H-F community, and beyond. More information on times, locations and how to get involved can be found at www.flossmoor.org.
- The Nike Reuse-A-Shoe program will be hosted by Western Avenue School in Flossmoor. Volunteers will collect old sneakers, which will be donated to Nike and transformed into sports surfaces like running tracks, baseball fields and basketball courts.
- Toiletries and personal care products will be collected in a program hosted by Parker Junior High School. The donated products will be donated to local shelters.
- Lunch deliveries to PADS and other shelters will be hosted by You Matter 2. The organization works with south suburban students in seventh through 12th grade to educate them on local and global issues, and get them involved in service.
- Habitat restoration is taking place at Sand Ridge Nature Center. Volunteers will help restore rare habitat at the South Holland nature center, part of the Cook County Forest Preserve system.
- Sock drive will be hosted by PLAN4SUCCESS, a resource foundation that provides practical life skills to adolescence and young adults in the areas of career development, financial literacy and college prep. Socks are a necessary need for the homeless but are often overlooked in clothing drives. Donated socks will go to PADS and Pacific Garden shelters.
- Baked goods delivery is being hosted by PLAN4SUCCESS. Store-bought baked goods will be packaged and delivered to agencies that serve the community, including local police and fire departments and the 911 call center.
- Invasive plants will be targeted in a project at Dan Ryan Woods on Chicago’s South Side. Volunteers will learn about efforts to maintain healthy habitats at programs hosted by the Cook County Forest Preserve District.
- Volunteers will serve breakfast and do a service project with after-school program students ranging in age from first though eighth grade at Jones Center in Chicago Heights. The program is hosted by the Flossmoor Service League.
- Unused gifts will be collected for less fortunate older adults as part of the Leave it for Love program. Items to be collected include gifts, toiletries, toys and non-perishable food. The volunteer project is hosted by HF Homes/eXp Realty.
- Seeds will be sorted and packaged in a program hosted by the Flossmoor Green Commission as part of the Flossmoor Seed Library. Volunteers will help organize the commission’s seed library at the Flossmoor Library.
- Old markers and crayons will be collected for the SCARCE program. Volunteers, ages 4 and up, will help sort through the donations and peel crayons. The project is hosted by Girl Scout Troops 65149 and 65460.
- Previously-used LEGO blocks will be collected during a project hosted by Dunning’s Market. The LEGOS will be shipped to various nonprofit organizations across the United States to recycle them for children in need.
- Teens in the Youth Group at Infant Jesus of Prague Church will make fleece blankets to donate during a program hosted by the Flossmoor parish.
- Books will be collected during a program co-sponsored by the Homewood-Flossmoor High School National Honor Society, Redbird Café and HFHS Friends of the Library. Donations will go to Bernie’s Book Bank.
- On Jan. 19, members of The Academy of the Music Institute of Chicago will perform a variety of classical pieces in exchange for freewill donations of warm clothing or money to support the Flossmoor Community Church PADS program. Donations should be brought to the concert so that they can be distributed on Jan. 20. The project is hosted by Flossmoor Community Church.
- Volunteers will help sort through donations, mostly clothing in a program hosted by The Bridge Teen Center in Orland Park. Proceeds from sales at the organization’s thrift store directly support the teen center.
- Donations for local food banks will be collected in a program hosted by Jack and Jill of America, South Suburban Chicago Chapter. Volunteers will help bag donations and collected food items will be brought to the Rich Township and Alicia’s House food pantries.
- Volunteers will make enrichment toys for animals at the South Suburban Humane Society. The project is hosted by the humane society.
- In an effort to help keep the earth clean, volunteers at Flossmoor Hills School will clean up litter from school grounds and the surrounding area. The project is hosted by the school.
- The St. Joseph Athletic Youth Group in Homewood is collecting winter hats, scarfs and gloves for PADS shelters. The project is hosted by the youth group.