Unity on Display, Volunteer Website Launched at MLK Day Event

More than 47 years after Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his famous “I Have a Dream Speech” from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., Evanston residents of differing race, religion, background and age assembled in a call to action and display of unity to honor his memory.

Near 100 citizens and community leaders gathered at the First United Methodist Church of Evanston Monday morning to kick off the with the Community Coffee and Service Fair.

The day’s events were organized by A Community of One, a partnership between several Evanston religious institutions, which joined forces a year ago to promote harmony, discussion and social responsibility within the Evanston community. Beth Emet synagogue, First Congregational Church of Evanston, First United Methodist Church of Evanston, Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary, Lake Street Church of Evanston and Second Baptist Church of Evanston collaborate in the joint-venture.

“We want to show that the faith communities are alive and engaged in Evanston and working together to help build a beloved community,” said Paul Khalil, a co-founder and member of A Community of One. “[We want] to help enact Dr. King’s vision here in Evanston of people working together to do something good.”

There was no shortage of community service opportunities at Monday’s fair. Ten Evanston and Chicago-based nonprofit organizations, including Youth Organization Umbrella, Inc., Connections for the Homeless, YMCA and Mitchell Museum of the American Indian set up booths with fliers, informational packets and volunteer sign-up sheets. People mingled, ate breakfast and drank coffee as they perused the different options.

The event also served as an occasion for Evanston Mayor Elizabeth Tisdahl to announce the launch of "Volunteer Evanston," a “community-based, volunteer software platform” which aims to aggregate and organize community-service opportunities in the city by connecting local nonprofit organizations with potential volunteers.

Shanee Jackson, volunteer coordinator for the City of Evanston, said the website, which will officially launch at the Feb. 14 City Council meeting, came about through a full partnership between the City, Northwestern University, the Evanston Community Foundation, District 202 and District 65.

“What we’re trying to do is to get all of these organizations to register online and post their volunteer opportunities on there,” Jackson said. “We’re going to categorize it, so that way, when it goes live in February, volunteers can go in and say, ‘Hey, I’d like to work with children,’ or ‘I need court-mandated volunteer opportunities.’”

Residents and organizations can both create profiles on the website, Jackson said, but organizations will go through a screening process to make sure they meet the criteria for joining. The website will keep track of community service hours for those who wish to document their volunteer time.

Mayor Tisdahl emphasized the importance of such a website during tough economic times.

“[The website launch] would be important to me if times were good, but is extremely important when times are bad,” Tisdahl said. “One of our solutions to providing the services people want in a time of declining revenues is volunteers. We have a tremendous need and a tremendous wealth of talent [in Evanston], and this website is going to put the two of them together.”

As the day’s first event drew to a close, attendees began a procession from the Church and began a “Peace March” towards the Music Institute of Chicago to join forces with Youth Organization Umbrella, Inc. From there, the group will proceed on the “MLK Procession” to the Second Baptist Church of Evanston, where Beth Emet’s Rabbi Andrea London will deliver the keynote address at the “MLK Interfaith Convocation.” At 2:30 p.m., in the same location, a 90-minute panel discussion among Evanston religious leaders entitled “Religion, Diversity and Keys to Community Building” will be open to the public, before the day’s events come to a close with a candlelight vigil outside.

A Community of One has organized twice before for events in Evanston, including a march during last year’s Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and participation in Evanston’s 2010 Fourth of July parade.