Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service

On Monday, January 15, 2024, hundreds of Friends School of Baltimore students, families, faculty, and alumni gathered in support of our 20th annual MLK Day of Service. We will have 17 asynchronous, virtual, on campus and off campus activities this year.  Activities will serve nonprofits such as The Giving Tree, Transforming Youth into Adults, The Family Tree, Student Support Network, Our Daily Bread, the Maryland Book Bank, Baltimore Hunger Project, Broadmead, Believe in Tomorrow Children’s House, My Sister’s Place, Helping Up Mission, Share Baby, Art with a Heart, Weekend Backpacks and the Baltimore SPCA.

Mark Parker, Pastor of Breath of God Lutheran Church, will be our keynote speaker. Mark Parker is a lifelong Baltimorean, originally from South Baltimore, who has been raising his family and serving as a public leader in Highlandtown since 2009. 

He serves as pastor of Breath of God Lutheran Church, in which capacity he has helped to transform the congregation and the community. Through Mark’s leadership, the congregation developed The Highlandtown Preschool, a high-quality early childhood education program with a particular emphasis on serving low-income and non-English-speaking families. He also started the Clinton Street Community Center and has built partnerships with city and state agencies, accessed public and private sector resources, and mobilized hundreds of volunteers to feed children and families across East and Southeast Baltimore. 

Mark has been particularly engaged on matters pertaining to family success and opportunity, including housing, early childhood education, public schools, immigration, refugee resettlement, public transportation, youth employment, community development, and recreation. We look forward to welcoming Pastor Parker to our campus on the 15th. 

“We are excited this year to continue our focus on working collaboratively in Baltimore communities in support of the holiday’s national mission to empower individuals, strengthen communities, bridge barriers, create solutions to social problems, and move us closer to Dr. King's vision of a ‘Beloved Community,' " say this year’s parent coordinators Alicia Freeman and Jennifer Smith. "Baltimore communities need support now more than ever, and we have volunteer spots available in a variety of creative activities and are confident that they will all fill up as they have in past years."

We look forward to our next MLK Jr. Day of Service on Monday, January 20, 2025

“We must use time creatively in the knowledge that the time is always right to do right.”

“Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’”

-Martin Luther King Jr