COLUMBUS, Ohio -- In the midst of challenging times, volunteers throughout Ohio are showing their commitment to improving their communities.

For the Martin Luther King Day of Service today, hundreds of people are taking part in dozens of projects intended to honor the late civil rights leader.

Rebeccah Verhoff-Kiss, outreach and education officer for the group Serve Ohio said the idea is to make the holiday a "Day On, Not a Day Off."


"Dr. King's legacy around service is just an inspiration," Verhoff-Kiss explained. "And so, he said that anybody can be great because anyone can serve. And he also said that life's most persistent an urgent question is, what are you doing for others?"

Serve Ohio is sponsoring ten organizations, which are enlisting the help of more than 300 people to complete projects in celebration of MLK day. And each project features an education component based on Dr. King's message of peace, unity and service to create long-term, sustainable change.

Verhoff-Kiss said all the projects have safety protocols in place to prevent the spread of COVID-19. And some are specifically responding to a few of the needs created by the pandemic.

For example, she noted, volunteers in Athens are building "blessing boxes."

"These are boxes that they're going to put in high-needs areas in Athens that community members can stock with food and other types of items that families might need, to help folks who just need a little bit more to get by between paychecks," Kerr outlined.

Verhoff-Kiss added Ohioans also are encouraged to make a pledge to serve their community throughout the year. Serve Ohio has four different grant opportunities for groups and organizations.

"MLK Day is the first one each year," Verhoff-Kiss clarified. "We also fund the projects for 'Global Youth Service Day,' which happens in April. We have a 'Serve Ohio Day' in June, and we fund projects for 'Make a Difference Day' in October."

Reporting by Ohio News Connection in association with Media in the Public Interest and funded in part by the George Gund Foundation.


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AUSTIN, Texas -- Tomorrow marks 20 years since the fateful events of 9/11, with followers of Islam reflecting on progress in the treatment of American Muslims.

Anger over the terrorist attacks and massive casualties led some to target U.S. Muslims, including those living in Texas, which has the fifth-largest Muslim population in the nation.

Imam Islam Mossaad of the North Austin Muslim Community Center (NAMCC), said he's seen a lot of progress in the past two decades.

"Twenty years on, a lot has changed," Mossaad acknowledged. "And there's still a lot that is the same, unfortunately, in some ways that we need to improve as societies here in the United States and all over the world, I believe."

NAMCC and Austin's Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) will hold a COVID-19 vaccination drive and soup kitchen tomorrow from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

Also in Austin, firefighters will climb the Pleasant Valley Drill Tower to equal roughly the height of New York's twin towers. Locals can also climb the stairs to the city's iconic COTA Tower four times, to mimic the 110 floors of the World Trade Center.

Texas has taken in more refugees than any other state in the past decade, and will soon be asked to settle Afghan refugees, following withdrawal from the 20-year war there.

William White, manager of government affairs for CAIR Austin, hopes residents will be as welcoming as they have been to Muslims.

"The influx of refugees has been going on for the last 10 decades or so," White pointed out. "Texas has always been a welcoming home to Syrians, Afghanis, Iraqis, as well as people from all over Africa and South America, so this isn't really anything new for our Texas neighbors."

Mossaad believes one-on-one interactions are the way to create a better understanding of diverse religious beliefs.

"There is a need to keep our doors open to people, especially when they're curious and wanting to know and understand," Mossaad urged. "And likewise, the Muslims should understand people who are from other faith traditions, or from no faith tradition."

Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has been largely silent on the resettlement of Afghan refugees. A Texas lawsuit to prevent additional Syrian refugees from settling there was dismissed in 2016.

NEW YORK -- With the 20th anniversary of the Sep. 11 terrorist attacks, a Catholic LGBTQ organization is launching a campaign advocating for the sainthood of Father Mychal Judge, the New York City Fire Department chaplain who died inside the World Trade Center while praying for the victims.

Francis DeBernardo, executive director of New Ways Ministry, which is behind the campaign, first heard about Judge in the aftermath of 9/11, when his story spread throughout the country. DeBernardo said through Judge's work supporting HIV/AIDS ministries, Alcoholics Anonymous, and as a member of the LGBTQ community, he provided support to many.

"He would really be a saint not only for firefighters, not only for recovering alcoholics, not only for the LGBTQ community, but he'd be a saint for 9/11," DeBernardo outlined. "A saint for representing all those people who suffered and died."

In 2017, Pope Francis announced new pathways to sainthood for people who have sacrificed their lives for others. Since then, DeBernardo has been in contact with Luis Escalante of the Vatican's Congregation for Causes of Saints, to research Judge's sainthood qualifications.

Salvatore Sapienza, pastor at Douglas Congregational United Church of Christ in Douglas, Michigan, got to know Judge in the late 1980s, during the height of the AIDS crisis in New York. Sapienza became involved with Judge's AIDS ministry organization in Manhattan, where they would visit people living with AIDS in hospitals and hold weekly prayers for them and their families.

Sapienza said even in life, Judge was a saintly figure.

"Mychal just had a wonderful way of seeing all people as one, because he just exuded such love," Sapienza recounted. "He really made them feel God's love, and that really was his message. His message was, 'I want you to know how much God loves you.'"

New Ways Ministry plans to contact firefighter organizations, Catholic LGBTQ groups and others to help form an association dedicated to sponsoring Judge's sainthood cause.

KEWASKUM, Wis. -- Saturday marks the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, and you don't have to visit New York or the Pentagon to pay tribute.

Memorials have popped up across the country the past two decades, including a new one in eastern Wisconsin.

Volunteers in the village of Kewaskum have worked for the past seven years to get their memorial ready. It was formally dedicated in June with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

Fuzz Martin, vice president of the board for Kewaskum Remembers 9/11, said this weekend is the first time the site will welcome visitors to coincide with the anniversary, and stressed giving residents the opportunity to reflect thousands of miles from ground zero is important.

"Just as you see Veterans memorials and Peal Harbor memorials, things like that, it is a testament to what we endured as a nation," Martin explained.

Aside from reflection, Martin noted the site also gives a chance for future generations to learn more about what happened.

The memorial in Kewaskum includes a steel beam from the North Tower of the World Trade Center, and the 9/11 Memorial Highway runs through the village along State Highway 28.

The project was inspired by the family of Andrea Haberman, a local high-school graduate who died in the attacks.

Martin pointed out the project also offers age-appropriate lesson plans and field-trip guides for educators if they want to enhance their teaching to those who were born after 9/11.

He feels it's up to everyone to keep the memory alive.

"I think we, as a nation, have drifted certainly from where we were on September 12th, 2001. I think, partially, there's some healing involved with that."

He added as time moves on, the public is more inclined to only reflect on the anniversary date.

The Wisconsin 9/11 Memorial includes a tree grown from a seedling from the ground zero Survivor Tree. The formal ceremony starts at 10:00 a.m. Saturday.