President Obama is asking Americans to honor the memory of Martin Luther King by volunteering today. This is the 25th anniversary of the first King federal holiday. King would have turned 82 this past Saturday. In Cedar Rapids, around 20 volunteers spent Saturday helping paint and cleanup three homes still needing repair from 2008 flood damage.

One volunteer, Helene Golden, recalled words of Dr. King as a motto by which she tries to live. “There’s only one thing urgent and persistent in life and that is what you do for others,” Golden said. Congressman Dave Loebsack of Mount Vernon was among the volunteers in the flood zone – scraping and painting the homes of senior citizens.

“There’s nothing partisan about servicing our fellow men and women,” Loebsack said. “We all know how important volunteers were for Iowa during the flood of 2008 and especially in this part of the city.” Aging Services of Cedar Rapids and the grassroots group Organizing for America coordinated Saturday’s volunteer effort.

By Nadia Crow, KCRG-TV, Cedar Rapids