Evanston RoundTable, Feb. 5, 2026
Along with 400 or 500 other people, I marched around the block from First United Methodist Church at 516 Church St. on Jan. 19 as part of Interfaith Action of Evanston’s annual Walk for Warmth in celebration of Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday. Outside it was bitter cold, but bundled up and in good spirits, we circumnavigated the square block of Hinman Avenue to Davis Street to Chicago Avenue and back to Church Street. It took only a few minutes.
This is the third year in a row freezing temperatures have trimmed the walk from its usual 2-mile route, which passes the eight religious institutions that support Interfaith Action’s overnight shelter program. They are Beth Emet, The Free Synagogue; First Congregational Church; First Presbyterian Church; First United Methodist Church; Immanuel Lutheran Church; Lake Street Church; St. Paul’s Lutheran Church; and Unitarian Church of Evanston.
Every night from mid-October to mid-May, these institutions offer care to homeless people, providing a warm bed and safe, comfortable surroundings. The following morning Interfaith Action’s hospitality center at St. Mark’s Church serves breakfast and computers are available there from 7 to 11 a.m.
I asked Interfaith Action President Donna Richardson how the group’s work intersected with King’s life. “Our mission is to help those who are unhoused and suffering from food insecurity and advocating for social justice for that population,” she told me. “Dr. King certainly was a proponent of equal justice for all, and that’s what we’re engaged in.
Straight line
“The people we serve find themselves for various reasons at a difficult point in their lives. They don’t have permanent housing and they don’t have enough to eat. We try to be the conduit for them to better times. I think we are certainly part of what Dr. King would call the beloved community, caring for our neighbors who need help getting to a better place — with job training, housing, offering them overnight shelter. I think the line that draws us to Dr. King is pretty straight.”
That line also points to an Evanston icon, William Logan. As a young Evanston Police Department officer, he served as King’s bodyguard when the civil rights leader visited Evanston in 1962 and 1963. Logan expressed frustration about the EPD’s failure to promote Black officers and said he might quit. King encouraged him to “stay the course” and go back to school to get his law enforcement certifications. He did, and went on to become the city’s first Black police chief.
His son, Evanstonian Gilo Kwesi Logan, has just published a delightfully written and illustrated children’s book titled Protecting A Dream: The Life and Legacy of Chief Bill Logan and His Historic Moments with Dr. King.
In her remarks at the church that morning, before the walk, the Rev. Eileen Wiviott of Unitarian Church of Evanston alluded to the line as well.
“We remember that, regardless of our backgrounds or our current circumstances, we are, in the words of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., ‘caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.’ We are obligated, by our profound and inescapable interconnection, to help one another through life’s many challenges, and beyond the forces of division, hate and fear that threaten.”
How to make a difference
So how, aside from making a show of support on the one day a year we celebrate King’s birthday, can we demonstrate our commitment to his spirit and vision? What can we do to help our community in these deeply troubled times? How can we walk the walk?
The most obvious way would be to dedicate time to one of the many good causes and organizations in Evanston, to recommit to public service by volunteering, tutoring, mentoring and more.
Susan Murphy Berube, executive director of Interfaith Action, said volunteers help at the overnight shelters and run the soup kitchens.
Sheran Fiedler, an Evanston resident, has volunteered at Interfaith Action for some 20 years. Currently she serves once a week as a hall monitor in the hospitality centers. “I feel like I’m giving something to the community. There are people here in Evanston who don’t have cars, houses or predictable food. It’s a very small thing I can do to help.”
Berube said volunteers are always needed at Interfaith Action. Those interested can check the organization’s website or email her at ia@interfaithactionofevanston.org.
‘We could always use more’
Volunteers are also needed at Connections for the Homeless. The organization utilizes the services of 1,200 volunteers a year, “and we could always use more,” said Eli Cooper-Nelson, Connections’ volunteer coordinator. Face-to-face volunteer opportunities include supporting Connections’ two drop-in locations at Hilda’s Place, 1458 Chicago Ave., and the main office at 2121 Dewey Ave. Other volunteers help unload food deliveries and transport clothing, luggage and other donations between drop-in sites.
In addition, Connections provides three meals every day at the Margarita Inn, 1566 Oak Ave., where volunteers purchase, provide and cook the meals.
“All ages are welcome to help,” said Cooper-Nelson. “We often have multiple generations helping serve at the Margarita Inn.”
People interested in volunteering can check the website or email volunteer@connect2home.org.
Another volunteer-worthy organization is Books & Breakfast, a before-school program offering breakfast and tutoring to students in eight different Evanston elementary schools. More than 500 volunteers, including Northwestern students, tutor kids in reading and math as well as provide homework support, said Kyle Hanawalt, executive director. Prospective volunteers can check the organization’s website for more information.
Marla Polley is a longtime volunteer. “I love Books & Breakfast. I think it’s such a simple idea that has such tremendous impact. It gets the kids off on the right foot for their school day, with breakfast and help with their homework.”
Michelle Grill started volunteering for the program in the fall of 2020. “It’s such a great program. The kids get so much out of it — and so do the volunteers.”
For additional volunteer opportunities, check out this November 2025 article by the RoundTable’s Rudy Ruiz.
The city also has a website page, VolunteerEvanston, where people can sign up to learn about volunteer opportunities.
In a 1957 sermon, King famously said, “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’”
What he also said that day was, “Find some great cause and some great purpose, some loyalty to which you can give yourself and become so absorbed in that something that you give your life to it.”
He served that cause and he gave his life for it.
The third Monday of January is designated Martin Luther King Jr. Day, but it’s also a National Day of Service in his memory. There’s no better way to serve those in need — to walk with Dr. King — than by volunteering.