Luke loved helping the people in his community, whether that community was in Los Angeles, CA, northern New Hampshire, or Cambridge, MA. A core mission of The Luke Legacy is to inspire people to follow his good example and become involved in their communities through volunteering.

We began this journey on Luke’s birthday in 2017, spending time together running, supporting our local communities, and having a few beers. Dozens of people got involved through volunteering, and even more ran in charity races and celebrated their accomplishments together. This tradition continues each year on Luke’s birthday, and we’d like to invite you to run (or walk) with us!

If you’re in the northeast US, please join The Luke Legacy team running or walking the Somerville 5k.

If you’re in L.A., please join the group running the Manhattan Beach 10k. There are no official teams at this race, so please get in touch with us via social media if you want to meet up with the other The Luke Legacy runners.

For each runner or walker that runs/walks these races, The Luke Legacy will donate $100 to the Somerville Homeless Coalition or the Midnight Mission, respectively.

Hours volunteered:

774

Since 2017, a huge number of volunteer hours have been logged in communities across the US and abroad. Volunteers have met new people, shared their inspiration (Luke!) with fellow volunteers, and created great new memories.

The stories are wonderful to read; all this good work is an amazing way to honor and remember Luke. Some stories can be found below, and even more have been shared on Facebook and Instagram.

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  • ‘Through NYC Meetup I was able to assist with the weekly soup kitchen hosted by St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church in NYC. The organizers of the soup kitchen were friendly and well-organized and it felt great to interact with the guests and try to ensure that they were well-fed. I’ll be back again this weekend!’
  • ‘A group of us spent 3 hours doing a beach clean-up with Heal the Bay, picking up styrofoam, plastics, and all sorts of other trash off the beach.’
  • ‘I worked two Mondays helping in the community garden to harvest food for the local food bank. I picked lots of fresh veggies for people in need.’
  • ‘I took my five-year-old daughter to join a group doing a trash pickup in our city. She learned about littering and actually enjoyed herself, and we both felt good about doing a good thing for our community.’
  • ‘I have signed up with Future Foundations to mentor middle school students and to teach CPR skills to 200 middle schoolers.’
  • ‘I volunteered to help students and parents plan for the rest of high school / college. Explaining to parents that their kid is a genius and deserves to go to whatever school they want was a great experience and exactly why I became a teacher. Hopefully one of those kids ends up at Dartmouth [like Luke].’
  • ‘I’ve been volunteering my whole life, and have always enjoyed the community aspect, but it’s been harder to fit in as life has gotten busier. Thanks, Luke, for the nudge to just get out there and do something good. I’m always reminded how much value there is in just a few hours volunteering, and it is always worth taking the time to do.’
  • ‘I went to a dahlia show and then helped distribute the flowers to health care facilities. I enjoyed it so much I started volunteering at the community dahlia garden.’
  • ‘We spent two weekends preparing food and delivering to homeless along with clean clothes and hygiene products. We are also working on an app that will connect the community to help one another. And I am a therapist and am offering free counseling to victims of the recent Vegas tragedy. All this with Luke and his legacy in mind.’
  • ‘I organize the October Clothing drive for our church. Each year we collect clothes from the parishioners for two weeks in October and then the senior high youth group and other adult volunteers sort it into summer and winter clothes for men, women and children. We donate the clothes to local shelters and also donate all the interview clothing to Solutions at Work in Cambridge.’
  • ‘We have been attending an after school program in Atlanta, helping with homework and math tutoring in Luke’s memory. Making small progress monthly, but always with him in mind.’
  • ‘Every month I cook at the Hixon House at the Upper Valley Haven. At Hixon struggling adults can find a bed, meals and resources for getting back on their feet. I shop and cook dinner for the 20 residents and 5 employees, and get to eat with them and hear their stories. It’s wonderful to get out of my bubble… Luke was the best listener. I hope I bring a little bit of that to the table when I serve these folks.’

Please keep up the volunteering and tell us about it!

For volunteering inspiration or help in finding opportunities, click here for suggestions and resources.

2017’s East Coast Runners:

Thanks to all those who purchased The Luke Legacy t-shirts! We raised over $3,000, most of which went to the Somerville Homeless Coalition to sponsor the beautiful runners above.

2017’s West Coast Runners:

Congratulations to all the runners!