A Day of Service in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., will combine efforts of diocesan parishes and organizations on Monday, Jan. 18. The third Monday of January was designated by the federal government in 1983 as a national holiday to commemorate the Jan. 15 birthday of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. In 1994 the honor was extended to include the holiday as a national day of service, reflecting the spirit of his message: helping one’s fellow man.

Many see the day as an opportunity for parishes to participate in solidarity with one another, and for Catholics and Christians to live out their call to serve each other and the least of God’s people. To that end, many parishes already have plans in place for extending a helping hand.

Youth of Blessed Sacrament-Our Lady of the Divine Shepherd Parish, 716 Bellevue Ave., Trenton, will gather Jan. 18 in the parish’s Wessel Hall to work with other parish volunteers in a variety of service projects: making hygiene bags and winter packages for the homeless; making bag lunches for the homeless shelter; donating Bibles to the incarcerated and creating inspirational Bible bookmarks.

Parishioners are asked to contribute travel sized personal hygiene items, such as toothpaste and toothbrushes, deodorant, soap, disposable razors, hand sanitizer and washcloths for the donated bags. Individual snacks, juice boxes, Bibles, socks, gloves and scarves are also needed. Parish religious education participants from Our Lady of Good Counsel Parish, Moorestown, will join students from the parish school and other churches in the town for service activities from 9 to 11 a.m. at Trinity Episcopal Church, 2047 W. Main St.; and at Our Lady of Good Counsel Church, 42 W. Main St., 1 to 2 p.m.

Activities at Trinity Church include assembling birthday bags, filled with birthday cake mixes, frosting, candles and decorations, to deliver to Catholic Charities. At Our Lady of Good Counsel Church in the afternoon, the children will bring food for donation to multiple food pantries in Moorestown, as well as put together toiletry bags for patrons of the St. Vincent de Paul Society. A “mercy box,” which the students will make as a take-home reminder, will include Year of Mercy cards with suggested daily activities, and information about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

The service day will begin and end with prayer. The Center for FaithJustice will partner with St. Ann Parish, 1253 Lawrenceville Rd., Lawrenceville, for its annual MLK, Jr. Youth Day of Service. The event will bring together teens from around the Diocese, including Confirmation candidates from St.

Ann’s, as well as sixth through 12th grade youth from St. James Parish, Pennington, and St. Rose of Lima Parish, Freehold. The Center will begin the day with a 9 a.m. prayer service in St. Ann Church, with various service projects starting at 10 a.m.

“We are thrilled that so many have decided to give up their day off of school in order to make it a ‘day on’ instead,” said Jan Davidson, a Center representative. “We are very much looking forward to it and the opportunity to connect so many young teens to service, and just as importantly, to connect them to prayer and to reflection on why we do service as people of faith.”

The teens will be serving at 11 different sites, including five area nursing homes, HomeFront in Ewing and Trenton, and RISE Community Services thrift store and food pantry, both in Hightstown. Eighth-grade Confirmation candidates of St. Ann’s will work in the parish center, coloring pictures for Color a Smile, and makingpeanut butter and jelly sandwiches and rolling personal silverware for patrons of Trenton Area Soup Kitchen (TASK).

After returning at 11:30 a.m. for lunch, the teens will regroup in the St.

Ann School gym for a reflection, and then gather in the church for a 1 p.m.

closing prayer service.

“The morning and afternoon prayer services and reflection time allow us to help these students process what they are about to do, and then what they have done, and how it affected and changed them,” Davidson explained, “which we pray sets them up to continue to serve, and to allow the experience to make a change in them – which in turn will lead to a more just road as they move forward in life.”

The Coalition for Peace and Action (CFPA) annual Interfaith Service to commemorate and honor the legacy of Dr.

King will take place Jan. 18, 7-8:30 p.m., in Nassau Presbyterian Church, 61 Nassau St., Princeton. Faith leaders from various churches will co-lead the service, with music from a range of faith traditions, and all are invited to attend. A free will offering will be collected, half of which goes to support the work of CFPA, and the other half to United Negro College Fund.