Public Service and Remembrance In Honor of King

On a holiday when she could have gone shopping or hung out at home, Tanya Brown chose to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday by volunteering at the District's largest homeless shelter.

She didn't go alone; she made sure to bring along her daughters, 12-year-old twins. They joined dozens of volunteers yesterday painting, cleaning and ministering to the needy at the Center for Creative Non-Violence, at 2nd and D streets NW.

"I wanted my girls to understand how important it is to serve the community," said Brown, 40, a Delta Air Lines flight attendant who lives on Capitol Hill. "I wanted them to know how privileged they are. We talk about it, but you need to see it."

From volunteering to church-sponsored discussions, from the synchronized ringing of bells to film screenings, a broad and diverse spectrum of the Washington region found myriad ways yesterday to commemorate the late civil rights leader's 79th birthday.

President Bush joined in the celebration, traveling by motorcade from the White House to the District's Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library, where he encountered a group of youngsters at story time.

When the reader asked the kids how they could improve the world, they were silent, perhaps distracted by the encroaching throng that included Bush, first lady Laura Bush and Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D).

"Love your neighbor," the president said eagerly as the reader nodded approvingly.

Then, in brief remarks, Bush described King as a "towering figure in the history of our country" and urged Americans to honor his memory by "reaching out to someone who hurts, by just simply living a life of kindness and compassion."

Volunteerism was a mantra of the day.

At a prayer breakfast sponsored by the Ebony Scholarship Society in Prince George's County, Cain Hope Felder, a Howard University professor, said that attending ceremonial events was only a small aspect of saluting King.

"You have not made a witness to King's legacy if you have attended a breakfast," Felder said. "Being a witness requires more than praising someone else. It requires doing something."

Later, more than 1,300 people crowded into First Baptist Church of Glenarden for an often-spirited discussion on race relations. The speakers included Prince George's political leaders and representatives from the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee and the National Council of La Raza, a Hispanic civil rights group.