Williams says Dr. King’s legacy brings people in to serve from various walks of life. “I am a Bronx person, but I go to a Roman Catholic church in Harlem. That’s where my husband’s American Legion chapter is,” she says, lauding the Legionnaires, who passed out hats and gloves and helped serve food and clean up. “I get a kick out of the fact that the Mission is non-denominational and was started by Jerry McAuley, a reformed convict and vagabond in Lower Manhattan in the 1870’s. How powerful is that?”

Such sentiment was echoed by Patricia Gatling, Commissioner and Chair of New York City’s Commission for Human Rights, who has volunteered at the Mission. “It didn’t take much arm-twisting on their part to get me here,” Gatling says, adding that King would’ve appreciated the symbolic value of the occasion. “If we just take the day off and go to the movies, we’re missing the point of a day in King’s honor. I salute Ms. Williams and the Mission for helping the disenfranchised in a special way on this special day.”