WASHINGTON, D.C. - Monday is Doctor Martin Luther King Junior day. It coincides with the national day of service, and in the nation's capitol, Iowans answered that call.

It was a day of community service activities all over Washington, including a project to feed the hungry and homeless.

And on this day that honors Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., what better place for that effort than Washington's MLK Memorial Library.

The hungry and the homeless filled an area outside the library, waiting for a hot meal. The group, We feed Our People, was providing the food. It's a serious project, that at times turned pretty festive.

The event included brief appearances by actor Ben Affleck, and the guest of honor, Martin Luther King III.

The spirit of volunteerism on this MLK Day brought in so many people, it was often hard to see who was there helping and who was there to be helped.

"It's amazing to see all these people here volunteering. There's actually more volunteers here than there are volunteer spots. So if this could happen more than once a year, that would be great," said volunteer Kate Mellow Goettel.

Kate is a former peace corps volunteer who'll be marching in tomorrow's Inaugural Parade. The Iowa City woman decided to use her time on this holiday to help others.

"We actually found out about this event on a website, usaservice.org, and we noticed there were about 50 or 55 websites or, I'm sorry, service projects back in Iowa as well. So this is kind of becoming a nationwide movement."

And even though it was hard for organizers here to find enough work for Kate and other volunteers to actually do, she knows this effort was really worth it.

"There's a sense of camaraderie in trying to move the country forward, especially during this really difficult economic time. I think it's becoming very real to many of us the plight of what people go through. "

Another big event going on in the Washington area Monday is the Presidential Youth Inaugural Conference.

It involves some 15,000 middle and high school students from across the country.