MLK DAY OF SERVICE 2012 <BACK TO GALLERY
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once said "Life's most persistent and urgent question is: 'What are you doing for others?'"
To further the impact of Dr. King's legacy, the AmeriCorps VISTA staff at The Homeless Coalition of Palm Beach County connected communities and volunteers in service to actualize a serenity garden at the Homeless Resource Center. On January 16th, 2012, The Homeless Coalition joined in nationwide consciousness to answer the President's national call to service initiative. Americans from all walks of life worked together to provide solutions to our most pressing national problems. In Palm Beach County, homelessness is a growing crisis affecting our men, women, families, children and elderly. The Homeless Coalition is a leader in execution of the Ten-Year Plan to end homelessness, strongly grounded in the mission to end homelessness in Palm Beach County.
View our Activities and Participation Report
For the first time ever, Palm Beach County's Homeless Resource Center will be a single entry point location to connect individuals to services and housing in an effort to end their homelessness. From the time a guest enters the front door, they will receive a diverse offering of quality services and referrals. Guests who are placed in the Centers' interim housing program will have access to the HRC Serenity Garden. The garden is a natural world environment where the stresses of homelessness can be alleviated through connective healing and nurturing from within.
As a measure of
goodwill between the site and community, affiliated volunteers and 70 student
volunteers from Florida Atlantic University were sent out to clean litter
debris around the Resource Center. Neighborhood beautification occured
concurrently with landscape renewal and planting in the garden. MLK Day of
Service provided the opportunity to complete Phase I of the two phase outdoor
space projects for the HRC. Phase II focusing on to actualization of a vegetable
garden will take place at a future date in 2012.
The Homeless
Coalition of Palm Beach County extends thanks to the Quantum Foundation for its
generous support in funding the vegetable and serenity garden project. Planning,
design and vision could not have been possible without the endless hours of
assistance from Studio Sprout, Inc. a division of Roy-Fisher Associates, Inc.
MLK Day of Service is an initiative of the Corporation for National and
Community Service (CNCS), and part of the presidential United We Serve
Campaign.
United nationally
and locally, we serve to show what Palm Beach County is doing for others.
January 16, 2012 was a day where belonging, usefulness, pride in
surroundings, adaptability to environments of changing needs, and respite from
stressful situations became accessible to those struggling in the temporary
crisis of homelessness.
