Many Helping Hands is a group of volunteers of all ages coming together to help Cambridge residents in need on Martin Luther King Day. Our second annual day of service took place on January 16, 1012. Explore our site to learn how you can honor the spirit of Martin Luther King, Jr. by taking action in our community. Join us next year for our 3rd MLK Day of Service on January 21, 2013!
In the meantime for year round volunteer needs check out the
NEW Cambridge Volunteering Website -http://www.manyhelpinghands365.org

Sunday, January 23, 2011

What We Did...



Cambridge MLK Day of Service 2011
We truly had Many Helping Hands! Thank you to all who helped!

WE MADE:
56 Polar fleece blankets for homeless children at Cambridge family shelters run by the YWCA, Transition House and Hildebrand Family Self-Help Center.
71 Polar fleece scarves for the homeless men and women who are found sleeping on the street the night of the Cambridge Homeless Census later in January and homeless teens who visit the Bridge Over Troubled Waters medical van in Harvard Square.
754 Valentines cards for homebound Cambridge elders served by Meals on Wheels, homebound Cambridge residents who receive grocery deliveries from Food for Free, Cambridge veterans and Cambridge servicemen and women.
413 Activity kits for children waiting in the Emergency Rooms at Cambridge Hospital and Mt. Auburn Hospital.
671 Bookmarks for literacy programs at Cambridge Community Learning Center, the Literacy Project at Cambridge Public Library and Tutoring Plus.
WE SORTED:
19 Giant bags of donated children’s winter clothes for Children’s Clothing Exchange.
25 Giant bags of donated adult winter clothes for On the Rise, CASPAR and Harvard Square Homeless Shelter.
55 Bags of donated food for all twelve Cambridge food pantries (Margaret Fuller Neighborhood House, St. Paul AME Church, St. James Church, CEOC, Cambridgeport Baptist Church, the Senior Center pantry, St. Peter’s Church Pantry, East End House, St. Paul Catholic Church, Mass. Ave. Baptist Church, Zinberg Clinic Pantry and Salvation Army Food Pantry).
37 Bags with donated children’s books (10-15 in each bag) for all the Cambridge Youth Centers (Area IV, Frisoli, Gately, Russell and Willis D. Moore), Cambridge Community Center, YWCA Family Shelter and the Reach Out and Read programs at East Cambridge Health Center, Windsor Street Health Center, Cambridge Family Health, Porter Square and Cambridge Family Health Inman Square.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

More news from Cambridge's MLK Day....


Cambridge Day has a wonderful article with many pictures about our day of service.

"Many Helping Hands Cambridge, with representatives from other city agencies, led more than 400 volunteers in Day of Service projects on behalf of the city’s homeless, homebound elderly, children, families, veterans and servicemen and women Monday to honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy, a group representative said. The local volunteers joined hundreds of thousands of Americans across the country in making the holiday a day on, not a day off by serving others. ..." Read more here.


The Cambridge Chronicle Covers MLK Day


We'll be posting an update shortly, but for those of you who are interested in reading about the incredible turnout and amazing day of service we had in Cambridge yesterday, here's a nice article from The Cambridge Chronicle.

Sunday, January 16, 2011

"I have a dream..."

Photo: Lushbunny

"Now, I say to you today my friends, even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed:  'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.'"
Martin Luther King, Jr.  Speech at Civil Rights March on Washington, August 28, 1963 



"All life is interrelated..."

Mt. Auburn Cemetery   Photo: jaypee4227  
"All life is interrelated ... somehow we're caught in an inescapable network of mutuality tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly. For some strange reason, I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. You can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be. This is the interrelated structure of reality."
From a 1963 Speech at Western Michigan University by Martin Luther King, Jr.

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Who Are Key Supporters?

Cambridge's MLK Day of Service is just around the corner and couldn't happen without the initial generosity of local businesses like SynecticsworldKeeper Springs Water and Cambridge Trust. Stay tuned for more...

Our ever-growing list of sponsors includes...



Wednesday, January 12, 2011

King Open Students already lending their hands for Cambridge's elderly residents...



With one week to go until Cambridge's MLK Day of Service on January 17th, 7th and 8th graders at the King Open School came together to make cards for Cambridge's elderly residents. The cards will be delivered to homebound senior citizens receiving Meals on Wheels. These students are an inspiration to all the volunteers who will join us to make hundreds more cards next Monday at the YWCA!

Sunday, January 9, 2011

"The time is always right to do what is right."

Photo by Tori Mari

"The time is always right to do what's right."
--From The Future of Integration, a speech given by Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1964 at Oberlin College.

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Give Blood And Save Lives


On January 17 in honor of Dr. King, you can take part in a Cambridge Community Blood Drive. The American Red Cross in partnership with Many Helping Hands Cambridge MLK Day of Service welcomes blood donors. Make the gift of life part of what it means to serve.

Where: Cambridge Masonic Lodge
1950 Massachusetts Avenue
1-800-RedCross
2:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.

All presenting donors receive a pound of Dunkin’ Donuts Coffee!
*Prizes not redeemable for cash and non-transferable

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Cambridge MLK Day of Service Featured on CCTV

The Cambridge MLK Day of Service was featured on CCTV (Cambridge Community Television) last night. Host Toni Bee talked with Eva Martin Blythe, Director of the Cambridge YWCA, and Elizabeth Gilmore and Ann Lawson of Many Helping Hands, about Cambridge's very first MLK Day of Service on January 17!