Avanade offers all employees at least eight hours of paid volunteer time per year so they can support causes and charities that are important to them. In this reflection, Carrie Alexander shares why she decided to spend Martin Luther King Jr. Day volunteering at a youth organization in her neighborhood – and how Dr. King’s legacy lives on through collaboration, community-building and acts of service.

In my spare time, I work with a non-profit organization called PeacePlayers International, coaching youth basketball and using the game to bridge divides in communities of conflict. This past Saturday and Monday, I traded in my coaching playbook for a community playbook. This was MLK Day, and basketball transcended its usual boundaries. Many folks and organizations across Brooklyn gathered to honor Dr. King's legacy through service and community.

Through PeacePlayers, I spent the weekend leading and supporting two unique events that utilized basketball to connect young people in my community. Inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s legacy of unity and action, the theme of the weekend was Youth Voices Matter. We dribbled towards empowerment, teaching kids about Dr. King’s fight for equality and equipping them to use their voices as agents of change.

It wasn't about layups and free throws. Seeing people as people. Inside out transformation. Culture of collaboration. Those are PeacePlayers’ core values, and we examined those values through the lens of Dr. King's work. Through various workshops, we passed the ball of empathy through shared experiences, building understanding across neighborhoods and backgrounds. We shot for collaboration, strategizing ways to build up their communities and create safe spaces for themselves, their families and others. We looked inward, identifying how each of us can be the change we wanted to see.

We also got to hear from guest speakers who are using their voices to create platforms for people who are often forgotten or unheard. Young minds were ignited by these walking examples of Dr. King's message. These were invaluable lessons not from textbooks, but from living voices, inspiring them to become dreamers and changemakers themselves. They felt empowered to speak up for what's right, to dare to be different and challenge the status quo, and were hopeful for the future they will create.

The culmination of both days was a thrilling community game, humming with energy and confidence. Each shot, each steal, held a deeper meaning. It was a chance to build bridges – to show that differences didn't matter on the court, only the shared passion for the game. I witnessed respect blossoming between strangers, girls challenging stereotypes with every confident dribble, and high fives bridging social divides. This wasn't about winning. It was about showcasing the power of unity in action. We planted seeds of unity on the court. Seeds that will undoubtedly sprout into lasting connections and empowered actions across communities.

At the end of each day, l ooking at the exhausted, happy faces around me, I knew we had honored Dr. King's legacy in the best way we could – through service, connection and the universal language of basketball. As these young changemakers take their lessons beyond the gym, carrying Dr. King's legacy in their hearts, I am confident and proud that they will continue building bridges, fostering empathy and planting seeds of hope. Dr. King's dream lives on, not just in marches and speeches, but in the everyday acts of kindness, in the shared sweat and camaraderie on the basketball court. And in that shared space, I knew that we, as a community, had taken a small step towards making his dream a reality, one dribble, one pass and one shot at a time.