PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — With COVID-19 numbers surging, Burlington County has decided not to hold a Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day event with people gathering.
Instead, the county is honoring King's legacy by asking residents to help its food-insecure residents, beginning with a canned food drive through January 31.
"Normally we hold an in-person event on Dr. Martin Luther King Day, but with the COVID cases rising, we thought we'd offer people an alternative," said Burlington County Board of Commissioners Director Dan O'Connell.
"Nobody should go to bed hungry at night. We honor Dr. King thinking about those folks."
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He calls food insecurity a hidden crisis with far too many families suffering in silence and said that by helping them, it keeps Dr. King's legacy alive.
"You're familiar with Dr. King's expression that everybody can be great because everybody can serve," he said.
"We like to tell people [that] serving people can be done 365 days a year, in both big and small ways."
O'Connell said more than 52,000 Burlington County residents are food insecure, including nearly 18,000 children.
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"Even before the pandemic, we knew there was food insecurity in the county," he said.
"Like a lot of aspects in life, the pandemic has only heightened that...it just wasn't as visible to us."
Collection boxes for this drive will be stationed at several county locations. The items will be donated and distributed to local food pantries.
In addition to this drive, the county is holding its monthly food distribution event with Food Bank of South Jersey on January 29th.
