Hilton Head Island Packet Logo

Look for ways to keep dream alive year-round | Hilton Head Island Packet

×
  • E-edition
  • Home
    • Customer Service
    • Mobile & Apps
    • Archives
    • Contact Us
    • eEdition
    • Newsletters
    • Subscribe
    • Contests
    • About Us
    • Sponsorships
    • News
    • Beaufort Gazette
    • Bluffton Packet
    • Special Reports
    • Databases
    • Local
    • South Carolina
    • Traffic
    • Crime & Public Safety
    • Business
    • Politics & Elections
    • Military
    • Nation & World
    • Professional Opinion
    • Lottery Results
    • Blog: Untamed Lowcountry
    • Sports
    • College
    • Golf
    • RBC Heritage
    • Recreation
    • High School
    • MLB
    • NFL
    • NBA
    • Outdoors
    • Columnists
    • Jeff Shain
    • Cast & Blast
    • Politics
    • Elections
    • Business
    • Real Estate
    • Technology
    • Full Stock Listings
    • Market Summaries
    • Mutual Funds
    • Treasury Rates
    • New Employee/Promotion Form
    • New Business Owner Form
    • Living
    • Celebrations
    • Religion
    • Food & Drink
    • Family
    • Outdoors
    • Holidays
    • Columnists
    • Lowcountry Gardening
    • Made With Love
    • Faith in Action
    • Entertainment
    • Arts & Culture
    • Local Events
    • Holidays & Seasonal
    • Horoscopes
    • Comics
    • Puzzles & Games
    • Columnists
    • Mindy Lucas
    • Opinion
    • Editorials
    • Other Views
    • Readers Opinion
    • Letters to the Editor
    • Submit a Letter
    • National Voices
    • Editorial Cartoons
    • Columnists
    • David Lauderdale
    • Liz Farrell
  • Obituaries

    • Classifieds
    • Legal Notices
  • Special Sections
  • Jobs
  • Moonlighting
  • Cars
  • Homes
  • Place An Ad
  • Mobile & Apps

Editorials

Look for ways to keep dream alive year-round

    ORDER REPRINT →

January 14, 2011 12:01 AM

This weekend, we celebrate the life and message of Martin Luther King Jr. during the national holiday that marks his birth.

King's call to build a "beloved community" by bridging our racial and economic divides resonates here. Beaufort County played an important role in his work. Penn Center on St. Helena Island offered a private retreat that allowed King and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to plan for and recover from their civil rights work.

Penn Center, from its beginnings during the Civil War, has defined outreach and community building.

A key part of this weekend's celebration is Saturday's MLK Community Service Day on Hilton Head Island. It begins with breakfast from 8 to 9 a.m. at All Saints Episcopal Church. Volunteers will fan out from there to work until noon.

SIGN UP

Sign Up and Save

Get six months of free digital access to The Island Packet

SUBSCRIBE WITH GOOGLE

#ReadLocal

To organizers' credit, this is not a once-a-year event. Every fifth Saturday during the year -- about once a quarter -- people gather to help their neighbors.

The Fifth Saturday program, a cross-denominational community outreach program, began simply enough in 1998. Local clergy held a free ecumenical breakfast that January to celebrate King's birthday. It was such a success they decided to hold it quarterly, every fifth Saturday, and make it a community service day.

The idea not only was to do good works, but to bring together people from different parts of the community. Work followed a communal breakfast. On that Saturday, 30 people helped repair four houses. By the second Fifth Saturday in August, more than 100 people turned out to help.

More than a dozen years later, the work and fellowship continue. In October, the group cleaned the yard of a member of Hilton Head Island Safe Harbour. That group, too, is answering King's call to build a better community. Safe Harbour works to help Hilton Head residents stay in their own homes as long as possible as they grow older. It offers transportation to doctors, stores and social events; help with grocery shopping and household chores; respite for caregivers; and regular phone calls and visits.

We are blessed with myriad groups making a difference in many lives.

As we reflect on King's life during the next few days, let's also look for ways to answer his call throughout the year. Opportunities abound here to build a better community.

  Comments  

Videos

Duke’s Jack White talks lessons from Louisville rally

Tre Jones said Duke played ‘lax’ before needing epic rally to beat Louisville

View More Video

Trending Stories

Services set for Laura Von Harten, former Beaufort County Council member, who died at 54

February 14, 2019 09:34 AM

‘A tragedy, not a crime,’ solicitor says of Beaufort Co. man’s death. Family disagrees

February 14, 2019 04:12 PM

Be my Valentine? Lady’s Island photographer captures alligator giving turtle a ‘kiss’

February 14, 2019 11:33 AM

Bluffton students face drug charges after administrator sees them exchange cash, police say

February 14, 2019 04:01 PM

Top-ranked Port Royal restaurant closes 4 years after opening. Building listed for sale

February 15, 2019 12:22 PM

Read Next

Principal sex-in-school case demands Beaufort County School District to come clean, now

Editorials

Principal sex-in-school case demands Beaufort County School District to come clean, now

The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette Editorial Board

    ORDER REPRINT →

February 06, 2019 01:40 PM

Public trust in Beaufort County School District and the school board is the key issue in the case of Hilton Head high school principal accused of having sex in the building with on-duty sheriff’s officer. The school district needs to come clean.

KEEP READING

Sign Up and Save

#ReadLocal

Get six months of free digital access to The Island Packet

SUBSCRIBE WITH GOOGLE

MORE EDITORIALS

Hilton Head principal sex-in-the-school case demands clarity from superintendent

Editorials

Hilton Head principal sex-in-the-school case demands clarity from superintendent

January 13, 2019 08:06 AM
Reopen investigation of Hilton Head Island High principal on sex in the school

Editorials

Reopen investigation of Hilton Head Island High principal on sex in the school

January 07, 2019 05:43 PM
Keep saying no: Beaufort County school board right to deny money for Moss in FBI probe

Editorials

Keep saying no: Beaufort County school board right to deny money for Moss in FBI probe

December 11, 2018 07:39 AM
Beaufort County Sheriff vs. Town of Hilton Head Island: A fight we should not be having

Editorials

Beaufort County Sheriff vs. Town of Hilton Head Island: A fight we should not be having

November 10, 2018 07:22 AM
5 things we learned from Tuesday election results in Beaufort County

Elections

5 things we learned from Tuesday election results in Beaufort County

November 07, 2018 10:01 AM
Hilton Head Island mayoral race: Style, substance and the peoples’ right to know

Editorials

Hilton Head Island mayoral race: Style, substance and the peoples’ right to know

November 02, 2018 09:22 AM
Take Us With You

Real-time updates and all local stories you want right in the palm of your hand.

Icon for mobile apps

Hilton Head Island Packet App

View Newsletters

Subscriptions
  • Start a Subscription
  • Customer Service
  • eEdition
  • Vacation Hold
  • Pay Your Bill
  • Rewards
Learn More
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Newsletters
  • News in Education
  • Photo Store
  • Archives
Advertising
  • Information
  • Place a Classified
  • Local Deals
  • Special Sections
  • Place an Obituary
  • Today's Circulars
Copyright
Privacy Policy
Terms of Service


Back to Story