By JEFF MARTIN and JEFFREY COLLINS Associated Press
Communities across the nation celebrated the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday on Monday with acts of service, prayer services and parades.
In Philadelphia, President Joe Biden marked the holiday by volunteering at Philabundance, a nonprofit food bank. He stuffed donation boxes with apples and struck up casual chatter with workers at the organization, where he volunteered for the third year in a row to mark the January day of service.
The 29th annual Greater Philadelphia Martin Luther King Day of Service is billed as the first and largest King day of service in the nation. Volunteer activities included preparing care packages for victims of gun violence and distributing voter information packets.
President Joe Biden volunteers at Philabundance, a hunger relief organization, to mark Martin Luther King, Jr., day, Monday, Jan. 15, 2024, in Philadelphia.AP Photo/Evan VucciThe Philadelphia MLK Association held its annual tapping of the Liberty Bell on Independence Mall, and the National Constitution Center offered free admission with a slate of civil rights era events and a school supply drive.
Observed federally since 1986, the holiday occurs on the third Monday of January, which this year happens to be King's actual birthday. Born in 1929, the slain civil rights leader would have been 95. This year also marks the 60th anniversary of the passage of the Civil Rights Act and King's Nobel Peace Prize.
Reporter Seung Min Kim contributed from Philadelphia.
