On this Martin Luther King Jr. Day, volunteers in Orlando honored the life and legacy of the civil rights leader by donating their time.

Several hundred volunteered to clean up the City of Orlando

The event took place on Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Several hundred people signed up to volunteer, cleaning up parks and community centers throughout the City Beautiful. That included Parramore’s Jackson Community Center, where volunteers swept, planted, painted and picked up trash.

"A lot of them really care about this community. They want to make a difference, the community matters," said Frederick Cintron, who manages the center. "We're here to help out. We want to make sure that it stays beautiful, we want to make sure that it stays maintained."

Among the 60-plus volunteers at the Parramore center was Yolanda Felix, who brought three of her children along to aid in the cleanup.

Felix pushed a large garbage can along the sidewalk, periodically bending down to scoop up trash from the overgrown bushes.

"Usually it's a day off, but if it's cleanup to help our community," she said.

"My mom told me to get out of bed," said Felix's 8-year-old daughter, Jadah Reynolds.

Brush in hand, the girl dipped into thick yellow paint and coated parking curbs.

"Sometimes it's dirty, and sometimes we have to clean it," she said. "It is a lot of work, but it is fun at the same time."

Jadah's 10-year-old brother, Jarvis, did another task Monday: The boy carefully repainted thin, white lines in the parking lot using a machine that hummed and sputtered. He said he has done it before.

"Everybody got up, out of their bed, ate breakfast and came out here to help," he said, pointing to his work. "You can help them park and stuff with the white lines."

For volunteers, giving back by doing simple tasks on the holiday was rewarding, especially on the heels of a difficult week for Orlando.

"A long, tough week. Hard for the community," Felix said. "It's a lot of people I have never seen before."

Felix also said overcoming pervasive, negative stigmas that surround Parramore because of high crime rates is important.

"It's good to have different people from everywhere come out and help, especially in the crime neighborhood that we live in," she said. "We're still uplifting, and people don't mind helping out."

Added Cintron: "Everyone's always wondering why, and how things happen. But, when they get down here and realize, it's not a bad neighborhood. There's more good than bad in this neighborhood and clearly this is something you see. Clearly a lot of people care."