A day of community service was held at Christ Episcopal Church of Bloomfield and Glen Ridge on Saturday morning, Jan. 18.
The annual event, held in observance of Martin Luther King Day, benefitting local charities was initiated in Bloomfield, but the Glen Ridge church, as it often does, opened its doors to neighbors.
“Our parish hosts a variety of community organizations, including the Charles Seller Foundation, which rehearses here for their show that raises money to pay off medical debt,” the Rev. Diana Wilcox, the church pastor, said. “The New Jersey Reading Orchestra gathers here to play music and there is also the Bolshoi Music Studio that teaches singing to young people.”
She added that Bloomfield Cheer began practicing here last year during the winter months.
“We have a yoga and meditation women’s group that uses our labyrinth in the church,” she continued. “All of this is part of what we believe we are called to do and that is to be a place of welcome and hospitality in the name of Jesus Christ.”
The event consisted of two groups of volunteers busy in the auditorium. One was a line of young people who, circling a group of tables, picked up health care items and dropped them into small plastic bags and deposited them into large bags for distribution to local charities.
The second group of volunteers, which included Bloomfield township employees, were gathered around several tables packaging oats and legumes for Tony’s Kitchen, a food ministry of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Montclair.
The individual who originated the MLK Day of Service, in 2015, is Wartyna Davis, a Bloomfield councilwoman.
“We first met at Christ Episcopal Church after the pandemic,” she said. “The church is a community partner and has supported us in different ways. Mother Diana has been sort of an ex officio member of our Martin Luther King committee and has provided a venue and volunteers.”
Davis said her personal, service-oriented mindedness was what generated her dream for a day of service. Initially, she thought she just wanted people to become active in the community. But then she asked herself, to do what? Her answer came from developing her own ideas.
“We worked with different organizations and for the first day of service, our volunteers painted murals at the Bloomfield Middle School.”
Subsequently, the MLK Day of Service painted murals at various Bloomfield schools.
“Over time, people made monetary donations and we purchased items to donate,” she said. “Today, we bagged oats, chick peas and pasta provided by Tony’s Kitchen.”
The health care items bagged by volunteers were bottles of skin lotion, tooth brushes, deodorants and soap. These were donated. Socks, also bagged, were purchased by the MLK Committee.
Nick Joanow, a Bloomfield councilman, said the MLK Day of Service tries to keep alive the spirit of the man.
“These events bring to light this person,” he said. “To me, it’s not a day of service. It’s a lifestyle to do for others. Saying a kind word is easy; a momentary action travels.
That’s more than a single day. Make the day of service something that propels you. The initiative is very personal. It can be a kind word, a gesture of opening a door, a simple ‘thank you.’”
Wilcox said the Episcopal Church of Bloomfield and Glen Ridge celebrates King as a model of Christian prophetic witness.
“There are so many people out there who either believe the church doesn’t care or that we shouldn’t care,” she said. “Yet they will say they admire Dr. King. And yet, in a speech in 1967, the Rev. Dr. King said, ‘Before I was a civil rights leader, I was a preacher of the Gospel. This was my first calling and it still remains my greatest commitment. You know, actually all that I do in civil rights I do because I consider it a part of my ministry. I have no other ambitions in life but to achieve excellence in the Christian ministry.’ We at Christ Episcopal Church seek to model his Christian witness in the world, and so we are happy to be the host once again of the MLK Jr. Service Day.”
Honoring MLK with a day of service added by Daniel Jackovino on
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