Thousands of Americans, including 1199SEIU members in New York’s Hudson Valley and Capital Region were disappointed in August when Hurricane Irene caused the closing of the National Mall in Washington, DC and the “Keeping the Dream Alive” march and rally was postponed.

Fortunately, the organizers of the event, the National Action Network and the family of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., rescheduled for October 15, a day that turned out to be picture perfect in the nation’s capital.

Denise King, a CNA. at Rosewood Gardens Nursing Home in the Capital Region, eagerly got on the bus in Albany at 3:30 am for the long drive to Washington. “Even though this event took place one day before the official dedication of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, it was an opportunity for ordinary people like me and my co-workers to make their voices heard, and march to protect the dream that Dr. King had for American families. There was no way I could miss that. Not after everything that I see going on--people losing their jobs and their homes.”

1199SEIU members and their families and friends voiced various reasons and concerns for attending the event, including the need for good jobs, quality health care and education, and the rights of workers to join unions.

King said, “I support The American Jobs Act. If people don’t have jobs, it’s not just one person that suffers. It’s entire families and communities.”

About 50 miles south of Albany, Warren Kipp, a patient transporter at Vassar Brothers Medical Center in Poughkeepsie got on a different bus that morning, filled with 1199 members and community activists from the Hudson Valley. Kipp too believes that there needs to be real action taken in Congress to create jobs. “Martin Luther King marched to end poverty. Families are in need today and we need to change that now.”

After a day of marching and chanting, 1199SEIU members finally got to see the new MLK Memorial on the National Mall. “I did get to see the monument,” said King. It’s hard to imagine after a day like that, that I was speechless, but I had only one thing to say when I got there –breathtaking!”

The following day, President Obama, Vice President Biden, Rev. Al Sharpton, Dr. King’ s family members and other civil rights activists greeted more than 50,000 people at the dedication. President Obama, who was six years old when Martin Luther King was assassinated, urged the nation to celebrate the dedication of the memorial to the slain civil rights leader by continuing to press for the goals and hopes of the “Black preacher with no official rank or title who somehow gave voice to our deepest dreams.”