Day 3 started with the team meeting for coffee downstairs as well as eggs, fruit, and a few other goodies. After breakfast, we all headed out to the Martin Luther King Center. The museum is open to the public year-round and it includes several exhibits centered around the life and work of Doctor Martin Luther King.
The museum was as fascinating as it was inspiring; it left a profound impact on myself and the rest of the team. One of my very favorite quotes from MLK is “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
Afterward, we got the opportunity to tour the home where he was born, just a few blocks down from the King Center. Most of the house has been restored with period furniture and decor, much of which belonged to the King family.
It was incredible to see snippets of his life in the house where he lived the first 12 years of his life. It was both amazing and humbling to be reminded of how brave Dr. King was. His legacy will forever have a profound impact on not only the community here in Atlanta but on people all over the world.
Once we were finished at the King Museum and Dr. King’s birth home, we headed over to the Coca-Cola Museum, which first opened in 2007. The team found the museum fascinating. We got the opportunity to explore plenty of vintage Coca-Cola memorabilia, the secret Coca-Cola Vault, as well as a bunch of different Coke brands and flavors to taste test.
Afterward, we grabbed hotdogs for lunch at the hotdog factory. The factory had a wide selection of hotdogs, that included everything from the All-American classic to a San-Fransisco Veggie Dog, it was a light and delicious lunch we got to enjoy before heading out to our next job at the Kroc Center.
We gathered together and started the first volunteer job of the day, cleaning the streets around the community. We all went as a group with gloves and trash bags, picking up garbage scattered around the neighborhood.
Everyone we passed while working was very kind and happy to talk to us and learn more about what we were doing. We cleaned up the streets for about an hour and headed back to the Kroc Center where we took part in a ceremony in the church.
One of the visiting pastors sang and strummed his guitar, then read a few bible passages around which he started an open conversation with the Roma Team and some of the other visiting volunteers.
Once we were done with the volunteer work for the day, we walked over to Gus’s World Famous Fried Chicken for a true Southern meal. We had to get fried chicken (of course!) plus macaroni and cheese, collard greens, fried okra, fried green tomatoes, and more. It was another delicious meal and a great one to have as our last dinner here in Atlanta.
Making our way home, we rented some Bird e-scooters and took turns using them on the way home. The experience gave us some good laughs. We spent the rest of the night in the bar in the same building as our hotel where we reflected on the trip, all of the work we’ve done, how much fun we had, and how grateful we all are to have been a part of the experience.
Tomorrow we all take our flights back home and I’m happy to say it’s been a wonderful time.
