In celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, various community service projects are scheduled to take place in North Long Beach on Monday, including gardening and cleaning efforts.

The national day of service promotes a “day on, not a day off” during the federal holiday on Monday, January 18.

Community members are invited to take part in a clean-up in the city’s Virginia Village area where volunteers will meet up at 9:00AM in the parking lot of 5301 Long Beach Boulevard. Gloves and bags will be provided.

Volunteers are scheduled to take part in general landscape activities—including clearing, prepping, planting, mulching and building—for a rain garden that will help divert stormwater away from storm drains and a community garden that will provide food for a neighborhood school farmers market, according to a press release.

At the district office, Images of America: Selma author and Long Beach resident Sharon Jackson will speak about the March on Selma and the civil rights movement.

Participants should be prepared with a light jacket, hat, sunglasses and sunscreen, if necessary. No technical skills are needed. Check-in at 8:00AM; program at 8:30AM. The district office is located at 6509 Gundry Avenue.

The projects are a collaboration between the Long Beach chapter of the Surfrider Foundation, the Grant and Hamilton neighborhood associations, Leadership Long Beach, the city’s Office of Sustainability and Councilmen Al Austin and Rex Richardson.

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Stephanie Rivera is the community engagement editor. Reach her at [email protected] or on Twitter at @StephRivera88.