In his 1968 sermon, The Drum Major Instinct,” Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. so eloquently stated that, “Everybody can be great, because anybody can serve…You only need a heart full of grace, a soul generated by love.”

It is in this spirit that I have led 80 community service projects throughout Burlington County during my tenure as New Jersey State Senator over the last eight years. What started as a single day of service on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day transformed into a monthly movement of dedicated, servant leaders.

At these “Serve with Senator Singleton” events, I crowd-source approximately two dozen volunteers to serve alongside me for two hours usually on a Saturday morning once a month. These volunteers are all ages, all creeds, all races, and yes, even all political affiliations.

What I have learned as we’ve painted homes for persons with developmental disabilities, laid wreaths in honor of fallen veterans, cleaned up local parks and historic sites, or gleaned produce for local food pantries, is that service – giving of your time and talent to others – is the ultimate neutralizer.

Service for the betterment of our neighbors, community, state, or nation is an idea that most people can get behind.

This idea is not dissimilar to the call that President John F. Kennedy put out to a generation exactly 65 years ago this month. He inspired a generation when he said, “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.” This sentiment – one of patriotic service – is exactly what I’ve tried to embody through this initiative.

Patriotic service for me as a Democrat is the idea that loving our country means working to make it better, fairer, healthier, and more inclusive. It means measuring our own greatness, or our state’s greatness, on how we treat those who have the least and are the most vulnerable among us.

And in my mind, this aligns perfectly with so many of the policies we’ve enacted in New Jersey over the past decade – increased minimum wage and equal pay laws; historic property tax relief programs; greater childcare assistance and family leave benefits; lead paint and lead waterline removal programs; and one that matters a great deal to me personally - increasing affordable housing inventory and opportunities.

Patriotism is not owned by any single ideology or movement. It is expressed in how we serve our communities, how we care for one another through thoughtful public policy, and how firmly we protect the democratic principles that bind us together as a nation.

As a new Governor is sworn-in next week, and we begin our State’s 222nd Legislative Session, we should embrace this idea of “patriotic service” as a way to reconnect with our neighbors and our communities.