CLAY COUNTY – Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. dedicated his life to engaging the community to create positive and productive action. He championed nonviolent civil activism to heal societal wounds and build an equitable society that respected everyone, regardless of race, ability or religion.

His legacy of unity will be celebrated 56 years after his death with several MLK Day of Service programs encouraging residents to volunteer to serve others by cleaning up public areas, providing guidance to younger generations and helping those with food insecurity.

King’s birthday is Jan. 15, but MLK Day was established by Congress in 1986 for the third Monday of each January. However, local organizations will honor King’s work with a week of service, starting with two events on Saturday, Jan. 13, and a day-long ceremony on Jan. 15, starting at Advent Lutheran Church in Orange Park and concluding at Oakleaf High.

“It would be brotherly love. It would be a community that went beyond politics and church affiliation,” said Clay Impact President and CEO Connie Thomas. “We can all come together, so it’s a beautiful thing.”

United Way of Northeast Florida will partner with Impact Clay, AmeriCorps, Farm Share and Feeding Northeast Florida, the Clay County Ministerial Alliance, the Town of Orange Park and the City of Green Cove Springs to provide free food at two locations. United Way also will work with Nassau and Duval counties.

The group will provide food from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at Celebration Church at 512 Kingsley Ave. in Orange Park and at Francis Vera Hall Park, 1503 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd, in Green Cove Springs.

Volunteers will be canvassing in nearby neighborhoods to promote RealSense, a tax preparation service, available through the United Way.

“The leader in this United Way of Northeast Florida. They have come to us and said they can bring the food there,” Thomas said. “They asked if we could bring the people together to distribute it.

“We’ve done surveys at Clay Impact in the past on the problems with food scarcity, so they are coming in and bringing two semis – one to Green Cove Springs and then one to Orange Park. We will have volunteers who are signed up and are willing to distribute food simultaneously at both locations.”

To volunteer, visit unitedwaynefl.org/mlk/ or uwnefl.galaxydigital.com/need/index.

The “It Starts With Me: Shifting the Culture Through the Studen and Practice Kingian, Nonviolence” program will start with a prayer breakfast at Advent Lutheran Church, 2156 Loch Rane Blvd. in Orange Park, and wrap up with a Commemorative Observance at Oakleaf High, 4035 Plantation Oaks.

The program is a collaboration between the First Baptist Missionary Church of Oakleaf, The Center of Excellence and the Clay County Ministerial Alliance.

The guest speaker at the breakfast will be retired Purple Heart Recipient and U.S. Army Col. Dr. LeRoy “Zke” Zimmerman.

The observation program will start at 3 p.m. with Master of Ceremony Ken Amaro, the retired First Coast News anchor and member of the Jacksonville City Council. Benedict College Band Director H. Wade Johnson and saxophonist Bernard Rose will perform.

Retired U.S. Navy Vice Adm. Dr. David L. Brewer III will be the featured feature. Brewer is one of only 32 officers to earn the second-highest rank in the Navy.

Vice Adm. Brewer was part of the first graduating class of the Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps at a historically Black university, Prairie View A&M.

He served as a minority recruiting officer and the Chief of Naval Operations representative at equal opportunity forums nationwide. He commanded the Military Sealift Command from 2001-2006 and led the command’s disaster relief after Hurricane Katrina.

Seating is limited. For more information, email centerofexcellence904@gmail.com or call (904) 562-8409.