Several thousand came through today working on various public service projects including packaging meals for the third world countries to creating Valentine's Day cards for senior citizens to neighborhood beautification.
This is the 17th annual MLK Day of Service for Philadelphia and the surrounding area. They've had a record sign up this year with some 85,000 volunteers working at various tasks today across the Delaware Valley.
The volunteers came from high schools, community betterment organizations, and from corporations.
Vice President Joe Biden and his wife and other dignitaries stopped in to deliver pep talks to the volunteers.
"Keep the faith and keep doing what you're doing. You're doing what King wanted us to do," Biden said.
There were multi-ethnic performances, lots of fun, and making new friends.
For many of the volunteers this was their first MLK Day experience; for many others, it's an annual exercise they won't miss come rain or shine.
