SAN DIEGO - Hundreds of volunteers spent part of Monday sprucing up Balboa Park.

They dressed differently and worshiped differently, but they had the same mission. 

"It's Martin Luther King Day, and we'd like to do something for the community - a service," said Kathy Florendo, a Unitarian Universalist volunteer. 

She was taking part in the 5th Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Interfaith Service. The event brought people of all faiths together like Taha Hassane, who is the Imam at the Islamic Center of San Diego.

He, and other local religious leaders, spoke to the massive group about uniting in honor of Dr. King and in hopes of building a better San Diego. 

"We, as Muslim-Americans, we look for such gatherings in order to join people from other faiths and other ethnicities and to show them that we are part of this nation," Hassane said. 

It is the one holiday intended to spend as a day of service, not a day off. 

"There's not other holiday that expresses that freedom and what we've gone through. I really appreciate this day, and I'm here because of that," Florendo added. 

"We have to stand together," Hassane said. "There is no other option."