LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — The pandemic may have changed plans for most of the Martin Luther King Jr. Day events but it didn’t stop some people from honoring the civil rights leader with a day of service.
People were able to volunteer at the Vegas Roots Community Garden by planting healing herbs like lavender, thyme and cilantro.
“We’ve got a wide range of people from a wide variety of backgrounds. The diversity and the coming together. I think food and gardening is the one thing that unites us all,” said Lori Bean, a master gardener.
The first planting was in honor of health care workers who serve working class communities of color in North Las Vegas. The plots were named after long time community activist Ruby Duncan.
“So, it was very important for us to do an herb garden with healing properties because we feel like Miss Ruby has encouraged and healed the community throughout her decades of service,” said Derek Washington, chair of Black Democratic Empowerment Project.
Duncan was was instrumental in bringing resources to Nevada’s Black and working poor communities. She led 6,000 people in a march down the Las Vegas Strip in the 1970s.
