Every year, hundreds of City Year workers and volunteers use the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday to complete a service project in the city rather than take the day off. On Monday, more than 200 individuals converged on the Oliver Wendell Holmes K-6 School in Dorchester to re-paint the school’s hallways and stairwells.

Bethany Reynolds, of City Year, told the volunteers that “we are serving here today in honor of Dr. King’s legacy. Instead of taking a vacation day and relaxing on the couch, many, like all of you volunteers, decided to wake up this morning and do meaningful and impactful work in the community.”

Taking a break from brushwork were Kathieya Bell, Regulo Moreno, Principal Lianne Hughes-Odom, Tonya Larkins, and Isaiah Romero.

Holmes Principal Lianne Hughes-Odom said MLK’s legacy has given her permission as the Holmes’s leader “to dream and imagine what is possible for school like this.”

She noted that the corridors hadn’t been thoroughly painted in more than 10 years, so the spruce-up was going to be a huge spark for the kids when they returned from the holiday. “We can’t walk into schools and say Black and Brown lives matter and their spaces for learning don’t reflect that,” she added.

Volunteers came from every corner of the neighborhood and beyond, from youth groups to long-time City Year volunteers to City Councillor Brian Worrell. They gave the four-story school building a good paint job in the community’s purple and yellow colors, with inspirational quotes and simple murals spicing up the long hallways.

Jessica Conroy, an 8th grade teacher at Dorchester’s Henderson Upper School.

Holmes Principal Lianne Hughes-Odom.

Nishaila Porter, of the Greater Boston American Association of Blacks in Energy (AABE).

Dorchester’s Keith Riddle.

City Year coordinator Bethany Reynolds.