Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s Intergenerational Legacy

Greetings! Here at GU, we hope your Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday was filled with reflection, rest and service.

Donna Butts was in the Washington Post on Monday with an op-ed about intergenerational service on MLK Jr. Day and the importance of grandparents and older adults in the lives of our children. Grandparents laid the foundation for both King's and Obama's successes as leaders, just as "First Grandmother" Marian Robinson does today in the White House.

We're also proud to highlight the many successes this weekend by teams of intergenerational volunteers. In her op-ed, Donna referenced the great work going on in San Diego by Keep The Spirit of '45 Alive and the intergenerational volunteer project headed by United Way of Greater St. Louis. Also this weekend, President Obama marked MLK Jr. Day with an intergenerational reflection on the civil rights movement, and in Baltimore, Experience Corps members shared stories with students about their own childhoods during segregation.

Dr. King said, "We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly."

Let's continue to view the world from that intergenerational perspective in the year ahead.

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