Kings of Kindness: Rotary asks elementary students what they would do to honor MLK Jr.

Jan 27

**Rotary Member Dan Boldt holds up one of the elementary worksheets handed out to grades K-5, with the prompt: “In honor of greatness I will contribute to kindness by:”**

The Dalles, Ore., Jan. 27, 2025 — Rotary Club of The Dalles completed a project with elementary schools in The Dalles last week that honored Martin Luther King Jr. in recognition of the slain civil rights leader's birthday with prompts of kindness.

“We distributed this sheet to all the elementary schools for K-5 kids,” said Rotary’s Theresa Dwyer. Some of the entries were displayed around The Dalles on the weekend of Jan. 18 to be visible on Martin Luther King Holiday.

Martin Luther King Jr. grew up in a time of extreme segregation, but he did not let that stop him from being a dreamer. He had a dream that would resonate with his country, and he became a major leader of the civil rights movement. His story is told at the national park site that includes his childhood home and in the church in Atlanta where he moved hearts and changed minds.

“The words of this text glitter in our eyes with a new urgency,” King said in his speech on Loving Your Enemies. “Far from being the pious injunction of a utopian dreamer, this command is an absolute necessity for the survival of our civilization. Yes, it is love that will save our world and our civilization, love even for enemies.”

King is recognized as America’s most compelling and effective civil rights leader of the 20th century. He utilized non-violent resistance including boycotts, sit-ins and marches to draw attention to and change discriminatory and systematic injustices inflicted against black Americans between 1955 and 1968.

His words still echo.

Local students made pledges to “help homeles people” ,or “ I see enyone getine bullead I will help I will say some thine” and this gem “If somebody is hurt take them to the nurse don’t laugh insted take notice. :)”

These acts of kindness were displayed at Klindt’s, The Farm Stand, the Senior Center and The Dalles Art Center. One teacher had the kids draw a picture to go with their act of kindness. Those are the ones we took to the art center. Rotary printed 1,275 of the MLK Jr. worksheets to be filled out. About half of the students k-5 participated.

Mrs Brody’s class.
Kaylini in the class won the $50 Klindt’s Book Booksellers gift certificate.

“On August 28, 1963, King participated in the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. From the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, he delivered his famous “I Have A Dream” speech, to a crowd of 250,000. An eloquent call to action, the speech emphasized his belief that the movement would create a society in which character, rather than color, prevailed,” - Library of Congress.

4th Grade Col. Wright Teacher Tim Chance won a $50 Casa El Mirador gift card. He is pictured here with Rotarian Matt Eby. 5th grade
Teacher Mary Stranz also at Col. Wright won a $100 restaurant gift certificate .

Last week, Rotary Member Dan Boldt brought by several of the submissions from local elementary students with their commitments to acts of kindness in honor of Dr. King.

Rotary also offered rewards for students who participated including ice cream at Shanon’s Ice Cream, Lego at Brick City & Games and dinner at Casa El Mirador.

Also special thanks to Farm Stand in The Dalles, TD Senior Center and The Dalles Art Center for displaying the kid’s art work.

CCCNew’s hats are off to Rotary, Farm Stand in The Dalles, TD Senior Center, The Dalles Art Center, Johnathan and Shannon Zilka, Jay and Leslie Wilson and Jorge and Lupe Barragan.