Cradles to Crayons Home Latest News Latest MLK Day of Service

131 neighbors aged 5 to 84, made it a "day on, not a day off"

"If you want to be important—wonderful. If you want to be recognized—wonderful. If you want to be great—wonderful. But recognize that he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. That's a new definition of greatness. And this morning, the thing that I like about it: by giving that definition of greatness, it means that everybody can be great, (Everybody) because everybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve. You don't have to know about Plato and Aristotle to serve. You don't have to know Einstein's theory of relativity to serve. You don't have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace, a soul generated by love. And you can be that servant."  Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Febraury 4th, 1968

Hear Dr. King  (excerpted from "The Drum Major Instinct sermon")

Dr. King encouraged Americans to come together to strengthen communities, alleviate poverty, and acknowledge dignity and respect for all human beings.

Students from Bridgewater State College worked the morning shift at the warehouse (their third at C2C on MLK Day). Dozens of families worked the afternoon shift. Staff and volunteers came together over lunch and celebrated the day and shared their stories.

See their excerpted recreation of Dr. King's sermon ↓ [90 seconds]

C2C kids and their families met, connected and worked together to directly help hundreds of other kids and their families in a most immediate and tangible way. Real is real  .. Dr. King's legacy is alive and well, it really was " A Day On ".

It was a most excellent day in many other ways:

• 131 neighbors worked a shift at the warehouse. 
• Over 426 gift/hours of labor.
• Enough inventory processed for 10,000 kids.
• 41 pizzas were consumed. A zillion cookies went missing.
• 2,119 new shoes, sneakers and boots were sorted and put in stock.
• New Bedford public Schools took delivery of the first batch of new shoes, sneakers and boots collected at our Stepping into the Future Inaugural Events on the 3rd and 4th.

Photos are here.