Detroit was the first place Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered an early version of what would become his “I Have a Dream” speech. He recited it on June 23, 1963, at the end of Detroit’s Walk to Freedom, a march that happened weeks before he spoke on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.

This piece of Detroit-first history sharpens what Martin Luther King Jr. Day asks of the city. It’s harder to treat the holiday, celebrated on Monday, as a slogan when the dream was first spoken aloud in Detroit. It’s also harder to see it as a day off when a lot of people choose to mark it every year as a day on.

The Lambda Pi Omega (LPO) chapter of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated, is one of the Detroit institutions built around that belief.

Their members measure the weeks before Martin Luther King Jr. Day in labor. They assemble toiletry kits for Detroiters without stable housing, volunteer their time to youth programs focused on combating hunger and fostering leadership skills, and step into the gaps families are already navigating, like hunger and lack of resources. Crystal Sewell, the chapter’s president, said the work is rooted in service that isn’t just a once-a-year thing.

“Our work really is about uplifting our community; that is really at the heart of what we do,” Sewell said. “It is sisterhood and service for the betterment of our local community, that’s really the essence and the spirit of our chapter.”

This year, LPO will spend Martin Luther King Jr. Day at Third New Hope Baptist Church on Detroit’s west side for its annual “We Are One” AKA Day of Service. Sorority members plan to assemble 1,908 toiletry bags for Detroit Rescue Mission Ministries, a local nonprofit that provides emergency shelter and support services, including housing programs for families and people working toward recovery. The specificity in the number of kits is intentional: 1,908 reflects AKA’s founding year, 1908. After the event, the bags will be delivered to the rescue mission’s family shelter and recovery housing sites.

The chapter’s service calendar stays full throughout the year, Sewell said.

Read the full article about honoring Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy by Ebony JJ Curry at Capital B News.