If you’re reading this, congratulations, you survived another round of holidays. Heck, maybe you even had some fun. I know we Jaspers did.

The days following the holidays can be a downer, but the fun doesn’t have to stop: This week’s edition of GO!, where we stockpile our A&E coverage in print, is dedicated to all kinds of fun to be had in this young new year. Our writers look ahead at live music, upcoming films, new restaurants and more.

But there are other ways to have fun that don’t cost a dime, just a smidge of your time, and you can find some of them on Martin Luther King, Jr., National Day of Service, Jan. 15. If you’ve ever wanted to give back but don’t know where to start to start, the annual event matching volunteers and organizations in need of them may be just what you’re looking for.

Dropping In reader Kathleen “Kate” Bailey told me she had “a blast” when she participated last year.

MLK Day was created as a federal holiday in 1983 in honor of civil rights activist Martin Luther King, Jr., and got upgraded to both holiday and day of service when President Bill Clinton signed the King Holiday and Service Act in 1994, and today the third Monday of January is often described as ”a day on,” as opposed to a day off.

Bailey has been volunteering since she was in the sixth grade, when she began alongside her mother. She participated in MLK Day of Service for the first time last year, joining the milkweed seed-packing party at the Deschutes Land Trust, which gives packets of the seeds away as part of its efforts to preserve habitat for monarch butterflies and other pollinators. The native plant is integral to helping Western monarch butterflies survive, the threats against them including habitat loss.

“I hung out there for a couple of hours and we stuffed a lot of seed packets, and the other volunteers were terrific,” Bailey said. “It was just quite fun.”

Good news. The milkweed packing party is back again this year, and there are numerous other opportunities for MLK Day fun and connection, according to Betsy Warriner of Connect Central Oregon, a nonprofit that matches volunteers with organizations in need of them, year-round as well as during the MLK Day of Service.

Connect Central Oregon lists several volunteer opportunities for MLK Day, and some are family-friendly, including Camp Fire Central Oregon’s Valentines for Veterans, imploring you to “bring your love-filled thoughts and a passion for crafts and we will fill the hearts and mailboxes of our fellow hospitalized veterans this year.”

Column: Life lessons from the Bee Gees

Central Oregon Council on Aging, which connects older folks and their families with info and services that support them wherever they’ve elected to spend their remaining years, also has a family-friendly opportunity involving handwriting cards, in this case for Meals on Wheels clients.

“We have all these volunteers who actually create the cards for us, and then we’re looking for volunteers to actually personalize and make them nice and cheery, so that will be the opportunity (on MLK Day),” said Emma Fried-Cassorla communications director at the Council on Aging, which is hoping for 10 volunteers on Jan. 15, but also has needs for volunteers throughout the year.

Last year marked the first time the organization took part in the Day of Service project, Fried-Cassorla said. Though none of the people from last year’s event became regular volunteers, “we have hopes that future MLK events will lead to repeat volunteers.”

That does happen, Warriner said.

“It’s a very good entry point. It gets people connected. They get to see if this is an organization they want to volunteer with or not, or maybe they’re a little scared of that first step,” she said. “Or maybe it’s not a start. It’s just something you do occasionally.”

For more information on MLK Day of Service events in Bend, and to register for them as a volunteer, visit volunteer.connectcentraloregon.org.