Committee Seeks To Honor MLK, Display Community's Diversity
Posted
David Slone-dslone@timesuniononline.com
WINONA LAKE – While there have been some changes to the Committee to Commemorate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the purpose of furthering his message and dream has not changed. “We’re trying to be community minded and display the diversity of the community through the Committee to Commemorate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.,” said John Lowe, president of the committee. The 2014 ceremony to honor King is from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Jan. 20 at the Manahan Orthopedic Capital Center, Winona Lake. It will be the second year the event will be hosted at the OCC. Previously, it was at the Rodeheaver Auditorium. The public is invited. During the main speaker, children at the 26th annual ceremony will have their own special speaker, who will be age appropriate. Life coach and motivational speaker Don Roulo will be the main speaker for the adults. One of the big changes to the committee is that most of the board members have changed. Only treasurer Edna Bruner is a lasting member, and she has been a part of the committee for 22 years. “We want to honor the heritage the Committee to Commemorate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. has provided,” Lowe said. “Joe Banks and Lynn Pulliam have done an excellent job. The board wants to do the same level of excellence to honor them as well.” Along with Lowe and Bruner, the other members are secretary Rachael Hoffert, Grace College; Warsaw Community Schools Superintendent Dr. Craig Hintz, committee at-large member; Dr. Bill Katip, Grace College president, committee at-large member; Ken Locke, Salvation Army director, committee community relations; and Wendy Long, WCS director of communications and language programs, contributor to committee. Lowe said that with a new board, they are trying to get a fresh perspective on honoring King. Also for the Jan. 20 event, Lowe said they will have a choir and children’s orchestra perform. Two scholarships will be announced at the annual event. Lowe said the committee works with Warsaw Community High School on the scholarships. “It’s not just academics, but also community participation,” he said. Honoring King continues to be important, Lowe said, because of what King stood for and the life he built. Lowe’s wife, Alyssa, is biracial and they have an interracial marriage with children, and King helped make that possible. Like his family, Lowe said this community is mixed. “(I’m) making sure my kids understand his foundation is not forgotten,” Lowe stated. Rachael and her husband, Warsaw Community Schools Chief Academic Officer David Hoffert, have two children from Ethiopia, Robinson and Roosevelt, so honoring King is a big deal to them. Two years ago, David took their 9-year-old son, Ryun, to Washington, D.C., and they visited the King Memorial. Ryun acknowledged to David that King helped him have his two brothers. “Martin Luther King Jr. impacted my family so we’re excited to celebrate it,’ Rachael said. “We want to encourage families to come. It should be a really neat event.” Bruner said honoring King is still important “because of the difference he made for my life and the lives of others. It’s more important because of the young ones coming up, so they don’t have to have any fear and so they know they matter. He made it so everyone matters and he loved Jesus Christ.” “We tend to have short memories and we chose not to let the significance of this man and his legacy fade away,” Katip stated when asked about Grace College’s involvement. He said young people, even college-aged students at Grace, don’t always understand the significance of what’s happened in the past and what’s going on today. King was active in Katip’s lifetime so it’s recent history, he said. “It’s so important not just giving honor to King’s legacy, but really acknowledging what this is about,” Katip concluded. To learn more about what the committee is about, Lowe said it has a Facebook page for the first time this year. The page is at www.facebook.com/ccmlkwarsaw “They can like us and we have updates on programs throughout the year,” Lowe suggested.
