Monday was a federal holiday, but people across Berks County didn’t use it as an excuse to sit around and relax.
A sites around the county, volunteers gathered to honor Martin Luther King Jr. through a day of service.
They assembled toiletry kits for those without homes, they packed bags of food for those without enough to eat, they planted seeds that will one day soon sprout into plants in gardens across Reading.
The people of Berks weren’t alone. Since 1994, Martin Luther King Jr. Day has been designated as a National Day of Service.
The legislation creating the day of service challenges Americans to transform the King holiday into a day of citizen action volunteer service in honor of King and his lasting legacy.
Here is some of how people in Berks tried to do that.
Helping the homeless
It’s a challenge Dr. Anthony Donato has faced time and time again.
Visiting a homeless encampment set up along the Schuylkill River, he’ll approach someone staying there. His goal is to provide help, to offer medical treatment as part of Reading Hospital’s Street Medicine Team.
But the men and woman he tries to help are often wary of strangers, worried about being told they need to move on or having their tent destroyed.
“Almost everybody we see, they’re suspicious,” said Donato, who has been part of the street medicine team since its inception a decade ago. “Sometimes I’ll meet them six or seven times before they’ll even tell me their name.”
On Monday morning, volunteers at Reading Hospital gathered to create something meant to help overcome that. They took items donated by fellow staff members — nonperishable goods, toiletries, blankets — and loaded them into backpacks that the street medicine team will hand out.
Reading Hospital staff members prepare items to place in backpacks during a Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service on Monday, Jan. 19, 2026. The backpacks will be handed out to the homeless visited by the hospital’s Street Medicine Team. (Bill UHRICH/READING EAGLE)
“When you can hand somebody something they need for the day — a little food, a little warmth — we become someone they can trust,” Donato said.
And when that happens, he and his teammates can do the jobs they’re there to do.
“On the street, we’re all volunteers checking back in on why we went into medicine,” he said. “I wanted to come help people, and here they are. Everything is stripped down, it’s just you and the patient.”
This is the fourth straight year Reading Hospital has taken part in the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service, said Christine Nepple, clinical director of the Street Medicine Team.
Reading Hospital staff prepare to load backpacks with food and supplies during Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service on Monday, Jan. 19, 2026. (Bill UHRICH/READING EAGLE)
“It just a good way to give back to the community in the spirit of Martin Luther King Jr.,” she said.
The effort was expected to fill about 200 bags, she said, which will be distributed at local shelters, food pantries and on the street by the Street Medicine Team.
It’s just one small piece of the expansive work the team does. Last year, Nepple said, the team totaled nearly 5,500 encounters through it’s nearly 2,000 volunteer hours.
The team offers medical service completely free, and had recently added OBGYN and pediatric services to its repertoire.
Jordan Hines, specialist for culture and belonging, left, and Jewel Hawkins from the microbiology lab at Reading Hospital prepare backpacks during a Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service event on Monday, Jan. 19, 2026. (Bill UHRICH/READING EAGLE) (Bill UHRICH/READING EAGLE)
Seeds of Change
The weather outdoors Monday was frosty, the ground still blanketed with the weekend’s snow and the air frigid.
But inside the City of Reading Greenhouse the spirit of spring was in the air.
The air was warm inside the century-old City Park structure, a recently refurbished 6,900-square-foot space where long metal mesh tables sit beneath glass ceilings and walls. And the smiles were bright.
Bethany Ayers Fisher, sustainability manager for Reading, talks with community volunteers before starting a seed-planting event at the City Park Greenhouse during Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service on Monday, Jan. 19, 2026. (Bill UHRICH/READING EAGLE)
In an event organized by the city’s Department of Public Works, Keep Reading Beautiful and the Penn State Extension Master Gardeners, volunteers gathered to do a little planting.
Bethany Ayers-Fisher, the city’s sustainability manager, said native plants were being sown so they will be ready this spring to be planted in community gardens across the city.
David Beane of Reading, left, Kim DeHart of Sinking Spring, and Helen Thomas of Boyertown, all from the Berks County Master Gardeners’ program, prepare to plant seeds at the City Park Greenhouse during a Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service event ton Monday, Jan. 19, 2026. (Bill UHRICH/READING EAGLE)
“It’s just a way of, not only honoring Martin Luther King Jr. with a service day, but bringing together different people in our community with a common passion,” she said.
The volunteers planted seeds of a variety of native species, including milkweed, lupines, Black Eyed Susans and Blue Indigo.
“These are plants that need a cold-weather start before they will germinate,” she explained.
Community members plant seeds for city pollinator gardens at the City Park Greenhouse during a Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service event on Monday, Jan. 19, 2026. (BILL UHRICH/READING EAGLE)
Ayers-Fisher said that being able to support the nearly two dozen community gardens in Reading with efforts like Monday’s is an important way to invest in the community.
“It’s really about building a bigger sandbox we can all play in,” she said.
Never too young to serve
Monday was a day Ruby Spangler had been looking forward to for weeks.
It wasn’t because the 12-year-old Gov. Mifflin Intermediate School student, like students across Berks, didn’t have to go to school. It was because of what she got to do instead.
Students make blankets at Immanuel UCC in Shillington during Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service on Monday, Jan. 19, 2026. (BILL UHRICH/READING EAGLE)
Spangler was one of about 70 people — mostly young people — who spent their day off at Immanuel United Church of Christ in Shillington taking part in a Day of Service. The annual event is a joint effort of Immanuel United Church of Christ, the Jewish Federation of Reading/Berks and Reform Congregation Oheb Sholom in Wyomissing.
That service included making sandwiches that were to be distributed through the New Journey Community Outreach food pantry, crafting no-sew blankets, creating cards for first responders and packing weekend bags of food to be given to students in need.
It was an event Spangler had taken part in before, and one she was thrilled to offer her time to again this year.
“I like helping people who may not have as much as me because I want to make them happy,” she said. “It makes me feel good knowing that I can do something that will show someone else that I care about them.”
Volunteers pack lunch bags at Immanuel UCC in Shillington during Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service event on Monday, Jan. 19, 2026. (BILL UHRICH/READING EAGLE)
Working alongside Spangler was her good friend Piper Waszkiewicz. Waszkiewicz said she feels the event is a fitting tribute to someone who once dreamed of people from all walks of life working together to achieve a shared cause.
“I know he worked really hard so that people would be equal,” she said. “I feel like being here with everyone shows that we want that too.”
Adi Shalev Smitheman, program director for the Jewish Federation, said the event provides an opportunity to continue collaboration among organizations representing different religions, and stems from a desire to build bridges within the community to serve their neighbors.
Students write messages on lunch bags at Immanuel UCC in Shillington during Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service on Monday, Jan. 19, 2026. (BILL UHRICH/READING EAGLE)
“We focus on turning words into action,” she said. “Giving back to others is important and, hopefully, we will continue to do good deeds like this throughout the year because there is so much we can do to make a difference.”
Smitheman said acts of service can be big or small. But regardless of their size, their results are meaningful.
Jeff Laylon, food program coordinator at New Journey Community Outreach, spoke to those gathered at the church before the event about the impact their efforts will have on their neighbors.
“At the heart of what we do is distribute food to those in need,” he said. “We serve between 300 to 400 people each day in our community through the meals we offer and the clothing we provide.
“We are doing the very basic things that Christ asks us to do — we feed people, we clothe people, we are kind to people and we are there for people.”
Volunteers at Immanuel UCC in Shillington work on projects during Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service on Monday, Jan. 19, 2026. (BILL UHRICH/READING EAGLE)