Fishers’ residents observe MLK Jr holiday with creativity and kindness

FISHERS, Ind. (WISH) – The community is observing the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday through two campaigns organized by city leaders.

Fishers Parks handed out 500 “fill in the blank” yard signs for residents to place outside of their home. Each sign reads a personal message. Participants had the option in submitting their home to an online driving tour map for other people to see over the weekend.

Homeowner Ashley Elrod told News 8 that it’s an opportunity to educate our children, spread love and kindness.

“There’s a lot of current events that our children are hearing and observing themselves and they might need some help interpreting that. My daughter is in first grade. Her message to everybody is that she has a dream that there will be peace and love for all,” Elrod said.

There’s also a 2,000 Acts of Kindness campaign and exactly 1,858 acts have been performed and submitted through an online form, according to the City of Fishers’ website.

Someone can nominate a person who has performed an act of kindness and can earn a $50 gift card to their favorite restaurant. Gretchen Schott nominated her son Sam, who decided to buy Christmas gifts for his two sixth grade teachers.

“Just doing something for somebody that’s nice can inspire somebody to do something nice for somebody else,” Sam mentioned. “I think that’s amazing because you can do one and it can turn into 100 acts of kindness.”

City leaders said another way to give back to the community is to take a pledge to #VolunteerFishers and share how you plan on giving back in 2021.

Fishers Parks put together an “M.L.K Memorial Spotify Playlist,” a resource for residents to listen to famous speeches, hymns and period music inspired and related to the life of Dr. King.

An additional resource includes a virtual celebration to find blog posts related to racial equity, a list of suggested readings and information on other local MLK Day celebrations.