Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District celebrates Dr. King's legacy

The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had a saying: “Everybody can be great because everybody can serve.” For King, service to others was the highest form of humanity.

Last Thursday and Friday, as Martin Luther King Jr. Day approached, nearly all 5,600 students in the Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District turned King’s words into action by taking part in a massive community-service project to collect hundreds, even thousands, of gloves, hats, scarves and pajamas, along with school supplies, for charity.

The project –– which involved almost all students from Grand Avenue and Merrick Avenue middle schools; Calhoun, Kennedy and Mepham high schools; and the Meadowbrook Alternative Program –– benefited:

n The Rosa Parks Inn, an emergency homeless shelter in Hempstead.

n Bethany House, an emergency shelter for women and their dependent children in Roosevelt.

n Rock & Wrap It Up, a Cedarhurst-based nonprofit organization that redistributes unused food from concert and professional sports venues to homeless shelters and soup kitchens.

n Little Flower Children and Family Services, a nonprofit organization serving young people and adults with disabilities, with headquarters in Wading River.

n Head Start, a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which provides preschool services in low-income neighborhoods.

n Mommas House, a home for young mothers, ages 18 to 23, based in Wantagh.

Robyn Einbinder, the Mepham High School social studies chairwoman and one of the project’s organizers, said district officials and students wanted to do more than study King. They wanted to help carry out his legacy, and they thought Martin Luther King Day, celebrated annually on the third Monday in January, would be the perfect time to conduct a service project. The holiday, after all, is not supposed to be a day off. It is, in fact, the National Day of Service, in recognition of King’s devotion to giving to others.