CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) - Several dignitaries helped kick off a Day of Service for young people on the South Side for this Martin Luther King Holiday.
The non-profit group City Year has been mounting MLK Days of Service in Chicago for nearly 30 years. This year, volunteers were painting inspirational and motivational murals on the walls of Parkside Elementary School in South Shore.
High-profile officials gave the participants a rousing sendoff. Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx, who grew up in the Cabrini Green Housing projects stressed this isn’t charity. It’s an investment in the future for communities like this, she said.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot said this is the embodiment of Dr. King’s dream.
“One of the things that Dr. King talked most about was bending the arch of the moral universe towards justice. What does that mean to us in this day and this time? It means that we show up like City Year does in places like this,” Lightfoot told the crowd
U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth was there to recall how a school teacher literally sustained her through school by giving her food when her family was poor. She said today’s volunteers were there for the kids of South Shore.
“Maybe one day one of the kids in this school will grow up and become mayor of this great city or a senator or president, but they don’t get there if we don’t sustain them now,” Duckworth said.
Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez was there to help lead the applause.
“I know when our children come in tomorrow morning their eyes are going to be wide open and recognize this school, and what it’s going to say them is, ‘you matter, we care about you the whole city is behind you,” Martinez said.
Also, among those also cheering the Martin Luther King Day of Service at Parkside was Allie Quigley of the WNBA’s Chicago Sky.
After the speeches, the volunteers heard their work orders, and got to it.
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