Call to service still pair's way to honor the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

For a decade and a half, Harris Wofford has taken what Americans do on the national holiday marking the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s legacy personally.

During his single term in the U.S. Senate representing Pennsylvania, Wofford partnered with Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., in 1994 to pass the King Holiday and Service Act.

Both men, veterans of the civil-rights movement who were friends of King's, were fed up and disappointed with what the holiday had become. Rather than a day of unity and service as they had envisioned, the holiday was little more than broadcasts of the "I Have a Dream" speech and sales at shopping malls.

Until last year.

That's when Martin Luther King Jr. Day got a boost from Barack Obama's election to the White House.

The president-elect's online campaign network promoted the idea of a day of service on the holiday, which last year took place the day before the inauguration. Potential volunteers could plug in their ZIP codes online and find a work site.

On national television, there was Obama painting at the Sasha Bruce House Shelter, while Michelle Obama, along with 12,000 others, was shown stuffing care packets for troops.

More than a million people volunteered in 13,000 projects, according to the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS), a federal agency that promotes volunteerism.

"It took a quantum leap forward," Wofford said.

But he doesn't sense the same energy this year. "There's still a long way to go to make it a truly all-American day," he said.

The number of volunteers was small in the earliest days of the effort. In 2008, volunteers worked on about 5,000 service projects.

Nicola Goren, acting chief of CNCS, expects 10,000 projects this year. A database of those projects is searchable online at www.serve.gov/mlkday.

No one is surprised about the slippage after last year's historic moment. Although the projects have doubled from 2008, for Wofford that's still too small.

Too many people touched by King's legacy still don't get it, said Wofford, 83.

"The King celebration cannot be just another American holiday," said Lewis, a national ambassador for the day of service. "It's a day to do something. It's not just about reflecting."

King Day is the newest U.S. holiday. Signed into law by President Reagan in 1983, it went into effect in 1986. Perhaps the most controversial federal holiday, it took years to be established.

In the early years, there was no guiding ritual for the day. Wofford and Lewis pushed for the federal government to support the idea of a national day of service.

But the holiday was swept up in the American marketing machine, with King Day sales and greeting cards. Groups held parades and sold T-shirts and buttons.

Wofford and Lewis thought many observances were genuine reflections of King's legacy but found some aspects distasteful.

After losing re-election in 1994, Wofford — who helped establish the Peace Corps in the 1960s — stayed in Washington and continued his King Day efforts.

He became chief executive of CNCS from 1995 to 2001. The corporation oversees AmeriCorps as well as the King Day of service.

Wofford, like Lewis, had a history with King. As an aide to John F. Kennedy's presidential campaign, Wofford suggested Kennedy call Coretta Scott King when her husband was arrested for participating in a sit-in.

Wofford hopes the news from Haiti will provide a jolt to those tempted to be complacent on King Day.

"It takes, sometimes, a shock to produce what you want," Wofford said.