(ABC 6 News) – People in Austin braved the cold to break bread with their neighbors at First United Methodist Church on Monday evening, celebrating their community and the principles Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spent his life fighting for.

Longtime Austin resident George Thomas says he’s watched the city grow into a better place over the many years he’s called Austin home.

“When I first came with the rock ‘n’ roll band, my first experience was kinda rough because people, you know some, there was a segment of Austin that thought that their job was to be rude to me,” said Thomas.

Although Thomas says it was tough being the only African American in town back in the 1970’s, he never felt like a victim, just misunderstood.

“Things started to get better because I didn’t give up,” said Thomas. “I can look back and see progress in real time.”

The growth of Austin into a kind, welcoming and diverse place is exactly what the community meal aims to celebrate. This is the second year the Austin Human Rights Commission has hosted the meal for MLK Day, hoping to honor Dr. King’s service to our country and what it means to be a community.

“Recognizing all the hard work that he did back in the 1960s, being able to bring communities together that weren’t together back then, and so, us being able to do so now to continue to honor his legacy,” said Arkaysia Hampton, Secretary of the Austin Human Rights Commission.

The meal served about 100 people and required a lot of helping hands. Players from the Austin Bruins hockey team served warm chili and soup provided by B & J Restaurant, and even Mayor Steve King stopped by to help serve lemonade.

“That cannot be lost, that Martin Luther King and what he did for the global community, to even bring it down to more local, but yeah to honor him in this way is just outstanding,” said Mayor King.

Community meals like this show just how far we’ve come as a country and in our local communities. Thomas says Austin is evolving right on schedule when it comes to diversity, open-mindedness and compassion.

“We’re not all the way in the promise land that he referred to yet, but we’re getting closer. We can see a little bit of the light, you know, in the window, and that’s progress,” said Thomas.