At Your Service: Following the MLK Day Tradition on Inauguration Eve (and Yes, The Lorax)

We're coming up on Martin Luther King Day, the eve of the Obama Inauguration, and the President-Elect is asking us all, as is traditional on this day, to find ways to volunteer.  As usual, Beth Kanter, whose Beth's Blog is a motherlode of social media strategy, especially for non-profits, suggests an easy to start.  Take part in Share Our Strength's Text for Food campaign.   It's not hard.  Here's what they suggest:

Ways that you can help:

• Text "SHARE" to 20222 to donate $5 to Share Our Strength.
  When you do, AT&T will match your donation up to $100,000. 100% of
  this donation will go to supporting Share Our Strength's efforts to end
  childhood hunger in America.
• Hold a protein-rich food drive.
  Food Drive efforts are essential sources of food for community food
  banks. They rely heavily on food donations to distribute much needed
  food to struggling people.
• Make a Donation. If you want to make a donation but can't make one through your cell phone, please consider making a donation online.

A random survey suggest that many of us have found great ways to offer support on Monday, and our fellow bloggers have made it easy to find them.  Start with Blog Her's Britt Bravo post that covers everything: a myraid of volunteer match-up sites, ways to spread the word, reading material and more.   Lisa Sabater's  Culture Kitchen lists Democrats at Work resources in several states including Florida, Virginia and Washington, and links some in Washington DC,  too. Montgomery County?  Try A Parent in Silver Spring's list.   If you haven't found a place near you, this USA Service site will hook you up.  All you need is a zip code. 

Hilltown Families, a group in Western Massachusetts, my old stomping grounds, links to local activities and even has a video to get you going.  Moving from Granola gulch to the establishment, Citi has urged its 100,000+ employees to take part, and offers opportunities in many of its location cities.  Also nationally, Black Politics on the Web reports that nine major African American sororities (the divine nine) have joined together to answer the call.

As I suspect is happening in many cities, Sioux Falls is holding a major food drive.  Springfield, MO is running a multi-park cleanup.  Native American and Olympic Gold Medalist Billy Mills urges " As American Indians, we should join Americans from across the country in this call to service." and goes on to mention several youth activities in "Indian country" where help is needed.

If you're a loner, or just want to do something personal, Seth Godin (no surprise) provides a list of things you can do, from my own favorite:  "Read a copy of the Lorax to a child that's never heard it" to lots of great ways to share technical knowledge.  One example:  "Find a tool that non-profits need online, and then organize some brilliant people to build it as an opensource utility."

Lisa Catherine Harper, of Generation X Raising Generation O has a nice meditation on how to figure out what sort of service will have the most impact on younger children.  So does The Green Parent.  Progressive News from the Big Apple links to a directory of many NYC opportunities, some of which begin before the 19th.

As I said, this is a random survey.  I'm sure there are local events for every age in every city.  It's going to be quite a day.