Indivisible Metro East: Day of Service, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

Sunday, January 17, 20201

Indivisible Metro East partnered with Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense & Sierra Club Kaskaskia for this event today, the MLK Day of Service. We organized a supply drive to benefit the Violence Prevention Center of Southwestern Illinois’ Emergency Residential Shelter.

Domestic violence has increased during the COVID-19 pandemic across the country and in our community. The VPCSI non-profit provides a 24/7 hotline, counseling, medical services, and a residential shelter for women, women w/ dependent children, and men w/ dependent children.

We worked with the director of VPCSI to determine specific items in greatest need for our supply drive and we had approximately 60 people either volunteer time and/or make a donation. We collected items on Sunday and delivered them today, MLK Day.

Overall, we delivered 12 huge construction-sized bags of paper products, several boxes of non-perishable food, 14 fleece blankets, misc personal care items, $250 in gas cards, and financial donations of $130. The VPCSI was thrilled with the donations & support.

This event enabled diverse groups in our community to engage in collaborative efforts for a common purpose.  It has been a super relationship-building experience that will hopefully grow in the future. This event also truly lifted up ALL of us via the outpouring of support from our community for people who are in such need, especially during this dark winter of the pandemic. We are thankful for the generosity and kindness of all who participated.

This first photo is from today, when we delivered everything. The wall across from us is lined with several huge bags full of supplies, in addition to the food items on the table. Dr King said, “Everyone can be great.  Because everyone can serve.” We are thankful to have so many great people here in our community.