Jackie Bailey hosted her annual Day of Service honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. at the Abilene Senior Center Jan. 16. The day of service entails providing senior citizens with a free meal that will be delivered to them at their homes. The meal includes homemade vegetable beef soup, corn muffins, fruit and a cookie.
She said the event brings the community together, which helps illustrate the main message of Dr. King’s idea of unity in all societies.
“When (former president) Obama was inaugurated in 2008, he mentioned a slogan ‘a day on, not a day off’, and he suggested that we start to remember Martin Luther King with the service of others and find ways to mesh the community together,” Bailey said.
This event has special meaning to Bailey, as she said Dr. King was her hero. She remembers hearing King’s “I Have a Dream” speech live on Aug. 28, 1963.
“He was a hero of mine. I loved his choice of words, and the way he delivered a message was brilliant. I never met him, but I’ve been to the Lorraine Hotel where he was shot and killed, as well as his museum in Atlanta. He was my hero,” said Bailey.
In doing the Day of Service for 14 years running, Jackie Bailey has been pleased seeing people from different ethnicities help out, and show that they care.
“It’s nice to see people from different walks of life come together. When we assemble the meals, I don’t just tell people where they need to go. They work together which is nice considering some of the volunteers have never met before,” Bailey said.
Jackie said it makes her, “very proud,” to honor the memory of Dr. King. She said all her life, she has seen indifferences between people involving racism.
“(Racism) never bothered me because I felt like I was just as important as somebody else, and they have a right to like and dislike who they want. Some people like or dislike someone because of the way that they look. That’s their problem. It’s not mine,” Bailey said.
The Day of Service first started in 2009 with Bailey and the help of some volunteers. Although, its history does go back a little further than that.
“The Day of Service started in 2009. We started having programs remembering Dr. King at the (Abilene) civic center in 1998. We had them every year then we started the Day of Service where you fix a meal and send it to the seniors around town,” Bailey said.
Jackie Bailey is keeping Dr. King’s words close to heart, as throughout different facets of life, she has seen unity formed in people of all ethnicities, not just black vs. white.
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