Hundreds of volunteers gather this weekend to pay tribute to Martin Luther King Jr.

More than 450 volunteers hit the streets of Austin Saturday morning for the 17th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service.

Austin Mayor Steve Adler is just one of hundreds that spent his morning picking up trash on the three mile stretch of Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. “450 people from all over the city, all communities in the city, all walks of life, all ethnicities, all genders, all everything combined together to make the community a little bit better,” he said. “It is about a community getting together as it happens so many places around Austin to help make our city better.” 

Among picking up trash, volunteers participated in several other projects such as cleaning a local community garden and painting classrooms for infants and toddlers. Molly Hahn is the Volunteer Coordinator for Hands on Central Texas. “We are super excited about it, we had all of the spots fill up online, and several walk ups so it's really exciting to see all the support from the community and all of the different church groups and work groups and youth groups that have come out, it's awesome.”

The volunteers said they are working together to help honor the legacy of Martin Luther King. He was born
on January 15th. “One of his main points was that you have to be involved in your community and making
changes for the better in your community and that's a legacy that lasts forever. That's always something
we can be mindful of doing throughout the years is really committing to making our community a better
safer more equitable place to live for everybody,” Hahn said.

Despite some chilly weather, volunteers were in good spirits. “You have so many people. Hundreds of people that have gotten out of warm beds and warm breakfasts to come out here today to give to their community. It just makes you happy to be here,” Mayor Adler said.