Hour 3 - Blueberry Bushes for NAYA

Dr Martin Luther King Jr fought for equality, justice, and what he called 'the beloved community'. In the last 10 years, the MLK holiday has been paired up with volunteerism- presented as an oppurtunity for citizens to take action for the betterment of others.

This MLK weekend I signed up, by way of Hands on Greater Portland, to plant blueberry bushes for an organization called NAYA (Native American Youth and Family Center). NAYA operates a school and community center in NE Portland. They provide numerous services for youth, adult and senior Native Americans. For 30 years NAYA has 'provided educational services, cultural arts programming, and direct support to reduce poverty' for Portland's Native Americans. NAYA elders had requested blueberry plants that they could harvest in the Summer and use in baking. Nine other volunters, and myself, made up the group tasked with planting the bushes and building a temporary greenhouse to help the plants get through the Portland winter. The 10 of us varied in every way - size, color, and age. As the project came along each volunteer proved helpful in some unique way. In the two hours it rained & snowed and in the end the sun came out to see a dozen blueberry bushes and a makeshift greenhouse behind the NAYA run school.

Blueberry planting in January? Well, we did it. I was glad to learn about NAYA and show my support for the organization, whose efforts parallel the lasting legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr.

'This is how we do it!'

As an update to this entry: I later received an email from United Way-Portland, who organized the city-wide MLK Day volunteer effort. They said that 2,875 volunteers, gave 10,346 hours of community service over the 3 day weekend. Not too shabby.