Interfaith Service to Honor Dr. King

An interfaith service and choir concert to honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Sunday night will focus on hunger issues.

“We Can End Childhood Hunger…We Have the Resources. Do We Have the Will?”is the theme of the two-hour program at St. Hugh of Lincoln Church, which begins at 6 p.m.

The fifth annual commemoration takes its title from King’s acceptance speech at the 1963 Nobel Peace Prize awards ceremony.  There he said, ”Why should there be hunger … at any table, when man has the resources … to provide for all… with the necessities of life?  There is no deficit in human resources.  The deficit is in the human will.”  

Organizers said the service will focus especially on the issue of almost 111,000 Long Island children who seek help at food pantries, as reported in the 2010 Island Harvest, Long Island Cares study of hunger on Long Island. Children will read quotes from King, 10 Huntington choirs will sing and prayers from 10 religious denominations wil be heard.

Sponsoring the event are Huntington ICAHN; The Interfaith Nutrition Network (The INN); Island Harvest/Mobilized Interfaith Coalition Against Hunger (MICAH); Long Island Cares/The Harry Chapin food Bank; Long Island Jobs with Justice; Muslims Against Hunger and Mazon: A Jewish Response to Hunger. 

Because Monday is the holiday commemorating the slain civil rights leader, schools are closed, as are Post Offices. The town garbage pickup is pushed back a day. And the Long Island Rail Road is adding extra trains for the  holiday.