The annual dinner celebrating the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday on Monday, Jan. 15, inspired the community to come together and rediscover hope as the fight for justice and equality prevails.
The college hosted the celebration in Schultz Banquet Hall for over 150 guests, including several community leaders who were featured and spoke at the event.
The dinner raised funds for the Meadville Martin Luther King Scholarship Fund Inc., and was sponsored by the Crawford Central School District, Allegheny College and the Family and Community Christian Association.
Dean of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Allegheny College Heather Moore Roberson served as the master of ceremonies and welcomed guests.
“I’m certain that tonight will be a memorable community celebration full of joy, laughter, food and meaningful reflection,” Roberson said.
President Ron Cole, ’87, said that by reflecting on hope during the holiday season, he has rediscovered it across his community at the college and outside of it.
“As I thought about this upcoming dinner, I realized that what we’re doing here in this community, in Meadville, in Allegheny to advance education, to advance equity, to advance inclusion — all of which I believe are a part of a just society — all of these give me hope, inspire my imagination,” Cole said. “I hope this will inspire imaginations to come for whom we do this work.”
In continuation with greetings from sponsors, Meadville Mayor Jaime Kinder highlighted the impact King’s legacy has had in her life.
“I was reflecting, myself, on Dr. King and his work and realized that what we’re doing in Meadville is something that he reflected on often,” Kinder said. “He reflected on the three evils. He reflected on poverty, racism and violence. And that is what we are doing here in Meadville. We don’t have too much violence because we have a pretty cool city manager and a great police force. We have racism but we’re working on it, it’s a work in progress. And we are working on poverty, we are creating equity in this town.”
Kinder concluded that one of the mantras she lives by is to love others without stopping to inquire whether they’re worthy, because she believes everyone who is breathing is worthy regardless of mistakes they have made and where they are in life.
Crawford County Schools Superintendent Jennifer Galdon followed up Kinder by talking about her goals for the school district.
“I am hopeful — as is our theme — and intentionally hopeful to strengthen the relationships in the community and within our school district,” Galdon said. “As I look around, I see a lot of role models, teachers in our district, community members, leaders, peer mentors and youth, and I encourage you to persist in working with our children and our young adults to provide a positive future for our community.”
After the greetings from sponsors, MLK Scholarship Fund Inc. Board Member Traci Balsamo played an instrumental song with Saegertown student Brooke Hoveral, followed by an invocation by the Rev. Sylvia Reid from the United Faith Fellowship Church of God.
Dinner, served by Van’s Catering, consisted of mac-and-cheese, fried chicken, roast beef, greens and mashed potatoes. Guests were called by table number and were encouraged to have second servings.
Following the dinner, the Rev. Marvin Burnett from the United Faith Church of God recited the “I Have a Dream,” speech by King which he has recited from memory for years. Before reciting the speech, Burnett took a few minutes to recognize his family and community.
In the next section of the program, Family and Community Christian Association Executive Director the Rev. Jackie Roberson introduced the speakers.
Meadville Area Middle School eighth grade student Arlan-Rayn Jordan described how hope remains in her life through King’s legacy.
“I reviewed the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, who stated you must accept finite disappointment but never lose infinite hope,” Jordan said. “I had been so set on breaking down the words that I missed the meaning. Could I have been looking at it wrong? With that, my search stopped. Today I come to you with no definite answer on how to revive hope but I have found comfort by living in infinite hope.”
Jordan was followed by another student, this time from Meadville Area Senior High School. Nicholas Michael Williams, a senior, also reflected on King’s life in search of lessons he could learn.
“Let us carry forward the torch of the hope that Martin Luther King ignited and let us work to reverberate in our hearts in our hearts reminding us that in unity and pursuit of justice and the unwavering belief that a better world is possible,” Williams said.
Associate Dean of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at Allegheny College Dom Turner then took to the podium to leave the audience with questions about dreams to think about.
“You have to find people you can trust your dreams with,” Turner said. “What is your dream? Who have you shared your dreams or dreams with? Who has permission to hold you accountable when you’ve strayed from the path that is intended to lead you to the fulfillment of your dreams? When you see a friend or colleague straying away from the peak of their potential, do you have the courage to speak up?”
The last speaker of the night came from beyond Meadville. Jason Whitaker made the two-hour drive from Buffalo, New York, where he serves as executive director of the city’s Commission of Citizens Rights and senior pastor of Emmanuel Temple Church of God. During his address, Whitaker discussed how racial inequality persists today.
“In my line of work, I get these calls where we have to investigate and try to help people that make you feel like, as I said earlier, that we seem to not be making the process when yet we still got police brutality,” Whitaker said. “When there’s still racism that’s taking place, even the hidden racism that is so much a concern because some of the people we look in the face with, some of the people we work with, some of the people we walk with are racist in their hearts.”
Despite the prevalence of racism today, Whitaker called on everyone in the audience to embrace hope and to keep it alive.
In closing remarks, Armendia Dixon, former president of the MLK scholarship organization, thanked everyone for their cooperation in the event.
“We so firmly believe that this is a beloved community,” Dixon said. “Churches, organizations and our citizens are all coming together for a commitment to love and care about each other.”