MLK Day of Service grows this year due to extra need after tornado

The annual MLK Day of Service coat giveaway at Bosco Center on Monday was a bit different this year as organizers expanded the effort after Thursday’s tornado.

Hours and items given away were expanded to more than just coats as the need in the community was greater this year due to the EF-2 tornado that ripped through the center of Selma on Thursday, said Ainka Jackson, executive director of the Selma City for Nonviolence, Truth and Reconciliation that partners with Edmundite Missions and Black Belt Community Foundation for the event each year.

“MLK Day was created as a day of service - a day on, not a day off, and we’re out here serving because that’s what his life was dedicated to. He was called to serve and calls us to do the same,” Jackson said. “And the need was even greater this year because of the tornado.”

Jackson said they saw more donations and volunteers than years past by those throughout the Black Belt who were inspired to serve on MLK Day and after the tornado caused so much damage. Many items leftover from the giveaway will be donated to other organizations for continued donation drives.

“It has been a beautiful showing of what Dr. King called the beloved community,” she said.

The MLK coat giveaway is usually held during lunch at Bosco Center, but it was expanded on Monday because the need was so great, she said.

Events Jackson’s organization originally planned around MLK Day were postponed due to the storm, including an entrepreneur visioning day on Saturday, events around National Day of Racial Healing on Tuesday and a racial equity event on Thursday.

“In crisis, you have to deal with what is immediately in front of you,” she said.