This is Martin Luther King National Day of Service. Locally, it's been hampered by the weather, but continues.
There was a big cleanup on the Day of Service scheduled for the African American Heritage Corridor along Michigan Avenue in Buffalo, but it was postponed because of the forecast winter storm. Other events continued.
In Hamburg, there were bags of donated food in driveways in anticipation of the town's 10th annual King Day of Service. It's sponsored by an array of agencies, including the Service Collaborative, Hamburg High School, AmeriCorps, the village Parks & Recreational Department, FeedMore and Feed Hamburg.
Collaborative Participant and Volunteer Engagement Director Adam Bartoszek said the food is even more important as food insecurity rises.
"We came together, about 10 years ago to really engage and encourage individuals to serve the community," he said. "Based on our previous partnership with those two entities and came together and formulated a wonderful project that engaged many volunteers, pre-COVID, and really allowed individuals to make a difference in the community."
Hamburg's Day of Service has raised 117,000 pounds of food over the last 10 years. Looking at the latest U.S. Census figures, the town is north of 95% white and around 1% Black.
